Dio Suhenda, Jakarta – Concerns are mounting that President Prabowo Subianto's free nutritious meal program could overshadow meaningful improvements in education, as nearly half of the mandated 20 percent state budget allocation for education is set to be absorbed by the costly flagship initiative next year.

The President said in a state budget address at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Friday that education would receive Rp 757.8 trillion (US$46.82 billion) in the upcoming fiscal year, the largest allocation for the sector in the nation's history.

Education is the most powerful tool to develop globally competitive human resources and to eradicate poverty. The government is committed to [fulfill its Constitutional obligation] of allocating 20 percent of the state budget to the education sector in 2026, Prabowo said.

At a separate press conference on the same day, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati revealed that some Rp335 trillion, or about 42 percent of total the education budget, would be dedicated to Prabowo's free meals program, which is expected to reach 82.9 million beneficiaries by the end of next year.

The second-largest share, Rp 179 trillion, will cover salaries and allowances for teachers and lecturers, while Rp 150 trillion has been earmarked for school construction, renovation and operations, including Rp 25 trillion for Sekolah Rakyat (community schools), Prabowo's flagship boarding school program for children from poor families.

Misplaced priorities

The hefty allocation for free meals has drawn criticism from education observers who warn of misplaced priorities.

Free meals are not mandated by the Constitution or the 2003 Education Law, so they shouldn't be counted as education spending. If you take our Rp 355 trillion for the program, what remains is actually the smallest allocation in recent memory, Ubaid Matraji, national coordinator of the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI), said on Monday.

He argued the funds should instead be used to make basic education free in both public and private schools, in line with a Constitutional Court ruling in May.

The ruling is not reflected in the 2026 budget, even though greater funding for free elementary education would go a long way in reducing dropout rates driven by economic hardship, he added.

Satriwan Salim, national coordinator of the Association for Education and Teachers (P2G), described the allocations as both misguided and shocking, arguing they come at the expense of meaningful improvements to the country's education system.

On teacher welfare, he noted the government had allocated Rp 19.2 trillion in bonuses for over 754,000 nonpermanent teachers, averaging Rp 2.2 million each per month. But he argued resources would be better spent on setting a minimum pay standard for these teachers, supported by larger operational assistance (BOS) funds for schools.

Satriwan also criticized the Rp 24.9 trillion allocated to build 100 new Sekolah Rakyat facilities compared with Rp 22.5 trillion for renovating 12,560 regular schools, calling the plan discriminatory. He noted that regular schools also serve students from poor families but do not receive the same lavish funding as Sekolah Rakyat.

Growing too fast?

Deni Friawan, an economic researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the almost two-fold increase in the free meal program's budget, from Rp 171 trillion in 2025 to Rp 335 trillion in 2026, underscored the Prabowo administration's determination to rapidly scale up the initiative.

He cautioned, however, that rapidly expanding the program carries risks if the government does not ensure it is well-designed and properly targeted.

The government should review the design of its priority programs to improve their efficiency and effectiveness while safeguarding national macroeconomic stability, Deni said.

Asked to comment on the large allocation, National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana, who oversees the free meals program, said on Monday that budgetary decisions were the President's prerogative and the free meal program only works to fulfill its given mandate.

Presidential Communications Office chief Hasan Nasbi was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Jakarta Post.

Source: https://asianews.network/free-meals-overshadow-indonesias-core-education-spending-in-2026-budget