"Two kitchens will begin operations on March 17, catering to the needs of seven thousand pupils. The MBG program has a noble goal to provide meals with balanced nutritional content to children," BGN's Expert for Systems and Governance, Niken Gandini, remarked on Thursday.
Speaking to the media at the Office of the Jayawijaya District Head, she expressed confidence that implementing this national priority program could help reduce the rate of school dropouts among children in Papua.
"Studies indicate that Papuan children tend to walk one to two kilometers to reach their school without having breakfast first, leading to unfavorable rates of school enrollment. Thus, this program is expected to help reduce the percentage of school dropouts," she explained.
Gandini then highlighted that the two planned kitchens would focus on utilizing food ingredients and materials produced by local farmers to help boost their economy.
"In addition to producing quality human resources, the MBG program can also be instrumental in enhancing the local economy," she remarked.
The official further highlighted that the MBG program could help Indonesia move closer to realizing its food self-sufficiency goal, which, in turn, will bring about economic benefits to local businesses.
She also emphasized the need for schools and health institutions to provide the data required to assess the concrete impacts of the national program.
Earlier, the BGN announced that the budget for each portion of free meals in Highland Papua Province is Rp35 thousand (US$2.12).
This was revealed during a meeting between BGN representatives and the Head of Jayawijaya District, Athenius Murib, on the same day.
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Translator: Lintang B, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Primayanti
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