
Elementary school students eat free meals at Lengkong 1 Elementary School in Tangerang, Indonesia. Photo Credit: Adi Weda/EPA
Society IndonesiaFree Meals for School Kids, <em>and</em> for Mamas-to-Be
Indonesia is deploying its ambitious program, providing free meals to schoolchildren and pregnant women, which will feed a quarter of the population once in full swing in 2029.
The free meal plan will be offered to 82.9 million of the country’s 280 million population across more than 20 provinces when entirely deployed in five years.
The first stage of the multibillion-dollar program – it will cost $28 billion over five years – costs $4.39 billion, feeding 15 million people by the end of the year. On its opening day, the program fed 540,000 people. By March, it will feed three million people, expanding throughout the year. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto states that his free meal plan is strategic in countering child malnutrition and spurring growth in the Southeast Asian country’s economy at a regional level.