August 26, 2026 | 06:44 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian National Nutrition Agency (BGN), the agency responsible for the free nutritious meal (MBG) program, is working closely with the disaster task force and local governments to arrange the technical aspects of free meal distribution as wildfires shut down schools in the affected regions.
The Head of BGN, Sudaryono, hoped that the local Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) or MBG kitchens can regulate the technical mechanisms. "Which involves school principals and parents as well," he said after a limited meeting with the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs in Jakarta on Wednesday.
According to him, some regions hit the hardest by the forest fires have adopted long-distance learning at their local schools. But Sudaryono confirmed that in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan, he found several MBG kitchens already cooked the free meals for students, despite the schools being shut down for the time being.
"Due to forest and land fires, the schools were closed all of a sudden. We still managed to distribute the cooked meals through the proper mechanism, with the parents picking them up," he said.
But this mechanism was conditional to MBG kitchens that have already cooked the meals. This mechanism would not apply universally, as free nutritious meal distribution is suspended if the schools are closed.
"So, we have issued a circular regarding the SOP, that while the schools are closed and during online learning, there is no free meal distribution except for day one, when the kitchens already cooked the meals," he said.
He emphasized that his office has issued official standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure the MBG distribution in disaster-affected regions proceeds in an orderly manner and does not disrupt the safety or the forest fire mitigation measures.
Read: Purbaya Ready to Provide Additional Funds for Forest Fire Response
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