The Ministry of Religious Affairs is involving around 1,500 kitchens at pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) to support the government's Free Nutritious Meals program.
"We readied 1,500 kitchens, and each kitchen can provide food for three thousand people," Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Syafi’i stated in Jakarta on Friday.
Syafi’i affirmed that his ministry is involving pesantren in the implementation of the free meals program as distribution centers.
"We made an agreement to provide free nutritious food for students from PAUD (early childhood education schools), elementary schools, high schools, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers," he remarked.
He explained that if a pesantren has one thousand students, its kitchen still provides three thousand portions of food.
Meanwhile, the surplus two thousand food portions will be distributed to eligible recipients within a three-kilometer radius of the pesantren.
Earlier, the Directorate General of Islamic Education of the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued Circular Letter Number 10 of 2024 concerning the Guidelines for Free Nutritious Meals in Islamic Boarding Schools.
The guidelines encourage pesantren leaders to implement the free meals program as a strategic step to improve the quality of education in Indonesia, both in terms of students' health and morals.
The free meals program is designed to teach character values, including those related to eating and drinking etiquette, tolerance, and responsibility.
The Free Nutritious Meals program, which was officially launched on Monday (January 6), is one of the work programs of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka for their 2024–2029 term.
A budget of Rp71 trillion (nearly US$4.4 billion) has been allocated for the program.
The government set up the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) in August 2024 to support the program's implementation.
Editor : Vicki Febrianto
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA News Jawa Timur 2025