Review MBG in Mimika, Gibran Finds Students Not Having Breakfast Before School

MIMIKA - Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka found out that a number of students at SMAN 4 Mimika did not eat breakfast at home before going to school.

When reviewing the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program at SMAN 4 Mimika, Central Papua, Gibran found that students ate MBG early, starting at 09.30 local time because many students did not have breakfast before going to school.

"Don't you have breakfast at home?" asked Gibran to one of the students who were eating MBG at the location, Antara, Tuesday, April 21.

"Never, sir," the student replied while shaking his head at Gibran.

"Never eat breakfast? Yes, spend the lauknya, spend the year. Want to know?" asked Gibran again, which was answered by the students with a nod.

During the review, the Vice President saw firsthand the distribution of food to students and interacted with teachers and students to find out the impact of the MBG program in the field.

The MBG menu consists of white rice with chicken in soy sauce, accompanied by fried chickpeas and carrots, tofu filling and apples as a dessert. The review also coincided with Kartini Day so that teachers and students appeared to wear traditional clothes from various regions.

Meanwhile, the Social Studies Teacher at SMAN 4 Mimika, Suharti, revealed that the MBG program provides benefits for students, especially those who have limited access to food before going to school.

Suharti explained that many students did not have breakfast because there was no food to eat at home.

He said that students who came late and did not even go to school because of hunger were still found, before the MBG program entered the school.

"Before there was MBG, there were children who were late for school. When he didn't go to school, why? He wanted to go to school but we were hungry, we didn't eat," said Suharti.

According to him, the presence of MBG brought positive changes to the discipline and readiness of students to learn.

Meanwhile, the number of students at SMAN 4 Mimika was recorded as 325 students, consisting of 150 male students and 175 female students with a total of 11 classes at X, XI, and XII levels.