Indonesia
Society
Pupils carry free nutritious meal packages past a classroom with a collapsed roof at SD Tanggirejo state elementary school in Tegowanu, Grobogan, Central Java, on July 21, 2026. According to the school, the classroom roof first collapsed in January and sustained further damage in April, forcing classes to rotate between the remaining usable classrooms, partitioned learning spaces and a prayer room converted into a temporary classroom to ensure pupils' safety. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
Tfont size="2">The Constitutional Court's ruling on the removal of the free nutritious meal program from the education budget should pave the way for long-overdue investment in teacher welfare, school repair and equal access to education, teachers and education experts have said.While welcoming Thursday’s ruling, they stressed that excluding the free meals program from the constitutionally mandated education spending alone would not improve education unless the government redirected the funding toward priorities that had long been underfunded, particularly contract teachers’ welfare and dilapidated schools.
"The court's ruling is certain, but the fate of contract teachers remains uncertain. The ruling will certainly take effect within two years, but free education is still far from guaranteed," Indonesian Teachers Association (P2G) national coordinator Satriwan Salim said.
