Not All Students Eat Free Nutrition, DKI DPRD: The Menu Must Be More Various

Illustration of nutritious eating (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta DPRD member Wa Ode Herlina responded to the implementation of free nutritious food (MBG) which began on Monday, January 6. Where, not all students eat food served on the grounds of lack of taste.

Wa Ode realized that the reason why students did not like the food served in the MBG program was because of the habit of eating food in their respective homes.

"It's about the habit of being at home every day, children, there are vegetables that are not eaten, some are just eating soy sauce chicken. That's back to taste," said Wa Ode at the DKI Jakarta DPRD Building, Wednesday, January 8.

In order to support students' appetite, Wa Ode recommends every nutritional fulfillment service unit (SPPG) to make food that is more varied.

"The minister is more varied. Anyway, it's adjusted to the children," he said.

On the one hand, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government must also ensure that food distributed to each school student has sufficient nutrition to meet their nutritional needs even though the MBG budget is only IDR 10,000 per serving.

"It's good that nutrition also takes into account the tastes of children, what is right is. So, it's still adapted to the children now," he explained.

In addition, the government is also expected to involve micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially traders who sell in school areas in providing to produce food

"There is a house like taking care of its cooking, including the same raw materials that use it. If possible, it does involve MSMEs around the school," said Wa Ode.

Since the implementation of MBG in Jakarta in the last two days, around 12 thousand students in 44 schools have been able to eat free food from President Prabowo Subianto's flagship program.

Currently, there are 5 SPPGs or MBG kitchens that provide food from the first day. There are a number of additional SPPGs that will start operating gradually until the end of January 2025 with a total of 17 SPPGs.

On a national scale, the implementation of the first day of MBG took place in 26 provinces with 190 SPPG. The government targets 937 MBG kitchens to be achieved by the end of January 2025 with the implementation carried out in stages in accordance with the readiness of each region.