DEN Study Shows MBG’s Positive Impacts on Students’ Attendance, Enthusiasm for Learning

The National Economic Council (DEN) presented President Prabowo Subianto with findings from a study on the impact of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, on Tuesday, (10/20). The study found that the program has the potential to improve school attendance, boost students’ motivation to learn, and reduce hunger among children.

The findings serve as an input for the Government to improve meal quality and ensure the program benefits those who need it most, particularly low-income families and those living in underdeveloped regions.

DEN member Mochamad Firman Hidayat explained that the study was conducted using a dedicated module in the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), developed by DEN in collaboration with Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and several other institutions. The module has been implemented nationwide since September 2025.

“One of the questions to answer was how the MBG program affects students’ attendance, enthusiasm for learning, and hunger. Despite the program’s shortcomings, we found the results quite interesting. For example, students who receive MBG tend to skip school less often than those who do not,” Firman said.

The study recorded a significant result among the poorest households in the lowest decile of welfare (decile 1). Students who received MBG meals were less likely to skip school than those who did not, with absenteeism declining further as the frequency of MBG meal distribution at their schools increased.

In addition to student attendance, Firman said the DEN study found a link between the quality of MBG menus and students’ enthusiasm for learning. According to the findings, 95 percent of students who rated the meals’ quality as very good reported increased motivation to learn. By contrast, the percentage of students who experienced a boost in learning motivation dropped significantly when they rated the meal quality poorly.

“It indicates that the quality of MBG menus should become the main concern, as we have recommended, since it contributes to the students’ enthusiasm for learning and hunger prevention,” he said.

These findings serve as the basis for DEN’s recommendations to President Prabowo, namely to improve the implementation of the MBG program. In addition to meal quality, ensuring a more equitable distribution of beneficiaries remains a key concern. Based on September Susenas data, MBG recipients were still more concentrated in urban areas than in rural communities.

“It indicates a need to prioritize the program to underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions, rural areas, and low-income communities. It is because the study showed that the program could help reduce school absenteeism, boost students’ enthusiasm for learning, and ease hunger during school hours,” he concluded. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/TM)