Bangun Santoso Lilis Varwati – The Save Indonesian Education Coalition has urged the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) to immediately follow up on the Constitutional Court's (MK) ruling, which declared that the Free Nutritional Meals (MBG) program is not a core component of education.
The coalition is asking the government not to wait until the court's 2028 deadline to separate the MBG budget from the mandatory 20 percent allocation for education.
Daniel Winarta, the plaintiff's attorney from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), stated that the Constitutional Court's ruling has confirmed that the MBG budget must be separated from the education budget, as mandated by the Constitution.
"We regret that this forum has only just taken place at the MK, the DPR's Commission X and the Mendikdasmen [Minister of Primary and Secondary Education] should be ashamed for failing to protect citizens' right to an education. We urge the government and the DPR to immediately comply with [the court's decision] and follow up on this ruling by immediately changing the structure of the APBN [State Budget]", said Winarta at the Constitutional Court building in Jakarta on Thursday July 30.
Winata said that the Constitutional Court in its deliberations confirmed that the MBG program is not a core component of education.
Meanwhile, the mandatory 20 percent allocation of the education budget, as stipulated under Article 31 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution, must be prioritised for the main components of education, namely students, educators and education personnel, facilities and infrastructure, curriculum, evaluation and educational development.
Furthermore, the court also considered the inclusion of the elucidation to Article 22 paragraph (3) of Law Number 17/2025 on the 2026 State Budget to constitute the imposition of a new norm not regulated in the main article.
Therefore, this norm was deemed to create legal uncertainty and potentially violate the right to an education.
The Coalition believes that the Constitutional Court's ruling also highlighted the persistently low welfare of teachers, the poor state of school facilities and infrastructure and the fulfillment of students' rights.
According to the Coalition, the court emphasised that the state must first ensure that citizens' rights to an education are fulfilled before using the education budget for other programs.
Despite this, Education and Teachers Association (P2G) National Coordinator Satriwan Salim admitted to being disappointment that the Constitutional Court (MK) still granted a transition period until the 2028 State Budget to separate the MBG budget from the education budget.
"Actually, we teachers are quite disappointed, because the MBG has had a direct impact on teacher welfare and career security. How long will honorary teachers and part-time PPPK [contract] teachers, who have been paid inhumane salaries, have to wait?", said Salim.
Similarly, Reza Sudrajat, an honorary teacher from Karawang in West Java and also a petitioner, emphasised that the government and the DPR do not need to wait two years to implement the Constitutional Court's ruling.
"The government and the DPR do not need to wait two years to implement the Constitutional Court's ruling", said Sudrajat.
According to Sudrajat, the government must immediately remove the MBG budget from the education budget allocation in the APBN.
"If it is not implemented immediately, the government will have violated the constitutional mandate and neglected teachers' welfare", he said.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Tak Perlu Tunggu 2028, Pemerintah Didesak Segera Keluarkan MBG dari Anggaran Pendidikan".]