Children are no longer the priority, were they ever?
When a national school lunch program turns kids into hospital patients, it’s time to ask whether our children are the priority, or just collateral damage for an economic machine.
In Indonesia, children are increasingly becoming hospital patients due to foodborne illnesses linked to government-provided lunches. Over 2,000 schoolchildren fell ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea after consuming their distributed meals in the past week alone. This alarming trend has reignited debates about whether children remain the top priority for the national school lunch program or have become collateral damage in an economic machine.
Since its launch in February 2025, the program has witnessed repeated outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, despite claims of successful implementation on the international stage. The concern is valid given that stunting affects 18.7 percent and wasting is at 11 percent among children aged 5 to 12, according to the 2023 Basic Health Survey.
Despite the program's noble intent of providing meals to combat malnutrition, the secondary ambitions of job creation, economic stimulus, and supporting local farmers have overshadowed the primary objective. This shift in focus has led to a growing number of jobs created – nearly 790,000 across centralized kitchens and 47,000 local suppliers nationwide – and significant economic benefits.
However, these achievements have come at the cost of children's health. As the government allocates between Rp 232.5 trillion and Rp 240 trillion for free meals next year, targeting 72 million children, the question remains: how much priority should children truly have in this program?
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
