MBG Program Also Hurts the Heart of Honorer Teachers

JAKARTA - The issuance of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 111 of 2025 in November 2025 has sparked controversy. One point in the Presidential Regulation is the opportunity to appoint Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) employees as Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK).

The Free Nutritious Meal program or MBG seems to never stop from controversy. Later, the issuance of Presidential Decree 111/2025 actually caused unrest among honor teachers.

Article 17 of Presidential Regulation 111/2025 states that SPPG employees can be considered as PPPK in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. That means, the government opens space for professionals involved in the MBG program to have the status of non-state civil servant government apparatus.

In general, PPPK is an Indonesian citizen who meets certain requirements and is appointed based on a labor agreement for a certain period of time to carry out government duties or occupy government positions.

This policy has been highlighted by a number of circles, including honorary teachers who have not been appointed as PPPK even though they have taught for years.

In the midst of negative reactions to the policy of appointing PPPK for SPPG employees, the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana emphasized that the appointment does not apply to all SPPG employees.

"The ones who were appointed as PPPK were only the heads of SPPG, accountants, and nutritionists," said Dadan.

He added that the salaries of SPPG employees who were appointed as PPPK would follow the provisions of applicable laws and regulations. Referring to Presidential Regulation Number 11 of 2024, the amount of PPPK salary is determined based on the grade and length of service.

"Group III," said Dadan.

With this provision, the salary of PPPK from the SPPG element is in the range of Rp. 2,206,500 to Rp. 3,201,200 per month.

Even though they are not permanent employees, both in state and private schools, honor teachers often have the same responsibilities as permanent teachers. However, on the income side, they receive a lower salary than ASN-status teachers. Generally, they receive a salary based on the number of teaching hours they teach.

In various regions, the income of honorary teachers does not reach the provincial minimum wage in the place where they teach. In fact, not a few of them admit that they only get paid hundreds of thousands every month.

The status of honorary teachers spread in Indonesia is still a polemic. Indeed, there is no exact number of how many honorary teachers in Indonesia.

According to data from the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2022, the number of honor teachers is 704,503 people. In addition, there are 141,724 non-permanent teachers (GTT) in districts/cities and 13,328 people in GTT in the provincial scope.

Meanwhile, the Director of Advocacy of the Research Institute Institute for Demographic and Affluence Studies (IDEAS) Agung Pradini said, data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) and the Education Management System (Emis) of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) stated that as many as 56 percent of teachers were honorers.

"How many honor teachers are there in Indonesia? We rarely look for the data, how many teachers are there in Indonesia? Let's check again, so, if the government version, honor teachers are teachers who only teach in state schools who are not ASN, that's called honor teachers. But if the honor teachers that we often use, in our heads, yes, those who are not ASN, well, it turns out that there are 2.6 million people or 56 percent of the total 3.7 million people," he said.

The government's plan to raise SPPG employees in the MBG program as ASN with PPPK status has been highlighted by the Association of Education and Teachers (P2G). The Head of Advocacy of P2G, Iman Zanatul Haeri, said that the acceleration of the appointment of SPPB employees as ASN hurt honor teachers.

According to him, the granting of PPPK status to SPPG employees is not a problem, but he questioned the government's attitude towards honor teachers who did not receive similar treatment.

In fact, teachers are the front line who educate the nation's children. "This is painful for teachers. It turns out that it is very easy to promote SPPG employees. Meanwhile, the government cannot guarantee the status of teachers to become a decent status like that," said Iman, quoting Tempo.

Iman recounted how thousands of educators who were still struggling were appointed as PPPK and part-time PPPK. Some of them, said Iman, had repeatedly taken part in the selection but failed due to quota limitations. At the same time, the local government was also unable to increase the PPPK quota due to budget limitations.

In fact, the status of PPPK that the honorary teacher is pursuing is merely to meet administrative requirements. The reason is that the latest ASN Law prohibits state schools from employing honorary teachers. Teachers who teach in schools must at least have the status of part-time PPPK.

Iman revealed that even though he had been appointed as a part-time PPPK, it did not necessarily improve the welfare of teachers because it was not uncommon for this new salary to be lower than when they were honorers.

"So this appointment is only a status, but his well-being is not worthy. The status is to prevent potential violations of the constitution," he said.

Director of Public Policy Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Media Wahyu Askar added, the government's decision that seemed to prioritize SPPG employees to become PPPK gave birth to systemic injustice.

The reason is that the appointment of PPPK for MBG project assistants was carried out in a fairly short time. Meanwhile, many honor teachers who have served for years have not received clarity about their fate.

"This violates the principle of procedural justice or procedural justice," said Media.

As a result, this policy has the potential to have a double impact on the quality of education. Not only ignoring the welfare of teachers, this can also cause demotivation of educators.