Starting August 4, 53.8 Million School Children Become The Main Target For Free Health Checks

Illustration of free health checks for school children. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Starting August 4, 2025, the government will launch a Free Health Check (CKG) program for school children in line with the start of the new school year. This program aims to provide comprehensive health check services, including physically and mentally, which are targeted to reach up to 53.8 million students throughout Indonesia.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin explained that this program will target more than 282 thousand educational units, including elementary, junior high, high school, as well as madrasas and public schools under the coordination of the Ministry of Religion and the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"We hope that this program can cover all school-age children so that they grow healthy and are ready to study optimally," Budi said at an online press conference in Jakarta.

As an initial stage, health checks have been carried out in 72 People's Schools, which are mostly boarding, reaching around 7,000 students. The results show that the most health problems are dental disorders, followed by visual impairments, anemia, and several cases of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB).

Interestingly, in this program also introduced a child's mental health examination, in response to high cases of psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression among students.

"We are starting to pay attention to the mental health aspect of children, because this greatly affects their learning skills," added Budi.

CKG is the result of cross-ministerial collaboration, including the Ministry of Basic and Medium Education, Ministry of Religion, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and supported by the Presidential Communication Office (PCO). The implementation of this program will rely on facilities and health workers from more than 10,000 health centers and 60,000 auxiliary health centers throughout Indonesia.

Since being launched nationally in February 2025, CKG has been utilized by more than 16.4 million citizens. The government hopes that student participation will continue to increase as this program is implemented in schools throughout Indonesia.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK), Pratikno, emphasized that CKG is an important foundation in the development of superior Indonesian human resources, coexisting with other programs such as Free Nutrition Food (MBG), school revitalization, and learning digitization.

"Cek kesehatan ini menjadi langkah dasar. Tanpa tubuh dan mental yang sehat, kemampuan anak untuk belajar dan berkembang tidak akan maksimal," ungkapnya.

In addition, Pratikno also appealed to teachers and parents to participate in creating a healthy environment that supports children's growth and development, both at school and at home. A clean environment, balanced diet, and emotional support are considered very important for the success of this program.