Jakarta. A senior minister recently said that the government was still testing whether it was possible to feed students across the archipelago with nutritious meals that cost no more than Rp 10,000 ($0.63).

In just a month from now, the government will begin distributing free nutritious meals to school students. The government has been holding trials and errors for this ambitious program. President Prabowo Subianto recently announced that he would lower the amount of money that the government was willing to spend per meal due to budget constraints. Each meal was originally set to cost Rp 15,000, but Prabowo revealed his intentions to lower the budget to Rp 10,000 per child. Prabowo also said that Rp 10,000 was enough to provide a nutritious meal. 

Chief Minister for Social Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar said Monday that they were still making the trial runs to find the best possible scheme for the free meal distribution. This includes studying whether Rp 10,000 is actually enough.

“The trial runs are still underway and will take place until the end of this year. And we will officially begin the program in January,” Muhaimin said in Jakarta.  

“But of course, the program has undergone careful calculations. I’m sure that it already takes into account the children’s minimum level of nutrition intake,” Muhaimin said.

The government will partner with schools to make sure that the program runs without a hitch, according to Muhaimin.

“These schools will then encourage the students’ parents -- particularly the mothers -- on this [free meal program]. We know how mothers usually pay great attention to the details,” Muhaimin said.

Each meal distributed in the past trial runs was capped at around Rp 15,000. The menu typically included Indonesia’s staple food: rice, chicken, vegetables, fruit, and milk. The government has allocated Rp 71 trillion in state spending to run the free meal program in 2025.