Over 1,000 children get sick with free school lunches

More than 1,000 children fell ill from free school lunches in Indonesia this week, according to the authorities – the last in a series of mass food poisoning events linked to the nutritious meal program of several billion dollars of President Prabowo Suubianto.

Yuyun Sarihotima, head of the Cipongkor Community Health Center of West Java, told BBC Indonesia that the total number of poisoning victims recorded between Monday and Wednesday had reached 1,171.

He followed the poisoning of 800 students last week in the western java provinces and the center of Sulawesi.

President Prabowo has carried out the nutritious meal program – which aims to offer free lunches to 80 million schoolchildren – a signature of its leadership.

But a series of mass food poisoning incidents led non -governmental organizations to call on the authorities to suspend the program due to health problems.

Muhaimin Iskandar, Minister of Community Empowerment in Coordination, said on Wednesday that “it was not planned to stop him.”

Victims of recent epidemics complained of pain, dizziness and nausea – as well as shortness of breath, which is a symptom that is not typical of food poisoning.

The previous cases of food poisoning resulting from the free lunch program cited the preparation of negligent foods as a suspected cause.

The victims of this week ate meals which included chicken of soy sauce, fried tofu, vegetables and fruit – but past poisoning incidents were linked to the expired sauce and, in a case, to the portion of fried shark.

The head of the National Nutrition Agency in Indonesia, Dadan Hindayana, said on Wednesday that mass food poisoning in Cipongkor last week was the result of a technical error in the nutrition service unit (SPPG).

CIPONGKOR SPPG operations have been suspended, according to the National Nutrition Agency.

The West Bandung Regent, Jeje Ritchie Ismail, said that his party had declared mass poisoning in Cipongkor “an extraordinary event so that manipulation can be faster and more complete”.

CIPONGKOR is the place where the first suspected case of mass poisoning this week occurred on Monday – the number of victims quickly passing to some 475 students.

On Wednesday, another mass poisoning in Cipongkor saw up to 500 students falling sick after consuming free lunches.

The National Narcotics Agency (BGN) said that from January 22 to September 22, there were 4,711 cases of free school poisoning. The majority of cases occurred on the island of Java.

However, a higher figure was reported by the Indonesian education monitoring network (JPPI). This NGO recorded until September 21, September 21, the number of poisoning victims had increased to 6,452 children.

“This abnormal situation should force the government to declare an epidemic and temporarily stop the program for an in -depth assessment,” said the national coordinator of the JPPI, Ubaid Matraji.

Some have called for changes to the program, including a proposal that the funds are distributed directly to parents so that they can prepare meals for their children instead. The BGN previously rejected this idea.

Around the world, programs offering free meals to students have proved to be effective in improving health, school performance and attendance.

But the 28 billion dollar version in Indonesia (21 billion pounds sterling) – promising to be the most expensive of its kind – has become the growing target of food security problems and animated antigan demonstrations.

Central part of the Prabowo presidential campaign last year, the free meal program was presented as a means of fighting growth retardation – a condition caused by malnutrition which affects one fifth of children under the age of five in Indonesia.

“Thanks to this initiative, our children will grow and emerge as champions,” said Prabowo in 2023.

Since he took office last October, this program, as well as other populist policies such as new houses and free medical examinations, have earned him political points. His approval notes amounted to 80% after his first 100 days in power.

In the first phase, which started in January, free school meals went around 550,000 students in 26 provinces.

Although the program is “well-intentioned”, Maria Monica Wihardja, a scholarship invited to Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, previously told BBC that there was “no evidence” of general emergency “for free school meals.

According to a national survey in 2024, less than 1% of Indonesian households went at least one day without meals in the past year.

The cost of the program has not helped things.

Indonesia has reserved more than $ 10 billion this year for free school meals.

In comparison, India spends $ 1.5 billion a year to feed 120 million children in what is the largest program of this type in the world. The version of Brazil costs roughly the same thing and serves some 40 million students.

Program defenders argued that it was approved and obtained in the state budget already spent in 2026.

But experts have warned that its colossal cost could also lead to other concerns.

Large -scale social assistance programs in Indonesia have historically been “riddled with corruption,” BBC Muhammad Rafi Bakri, research analyst at the Indonesian audit council, told BBC.

“Given the budget size,” he said, “this program is a gold mine for corrupt officials.”

With reported with Koh Ewes a Hana in Hana Samsir?