Indonesia Starts Free Lunch Plan to Boost Health, Education

  • Government has allocated $4.39 billion for program this year
  • Plans to import more cows to expand domestic dairy sector
Children receive free meals at a school in Jakarta on Jan. 6.Photographer: Chandra Asmara/Bloomberg
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Indonesia has started a $30 billion program of free school lunches, aimed at improving health and educational outcomes in Southeast Asia’s most populous country.

The meals were a campaign promise from President Prabowo Subianto who took office in October, and could eventually reach around 83 million people a day. Lunches will typically include rice, chicken meat and vegetables, but there was one notable product absent from the menu in Jakarta on day one: milk.