MK bars use of APBN education funds for MBG program

The Constitutional Court ruled that education funds in the APBN may no longer be used for the Makan Bergizi Gratis program. The ruling, read by Chief Justice Suhartoyo in Jakarta on Thursday (30/7), partially granted a petition by Yayasan Taman Belajar Nusantara over Article 22 paragraph (3) of Law No. 17 of 2025 on APBN 2026. The court said MBG is not a core component of education, so its funding must be separated from the operating budget for education providers. The court ordered the separation to take effect starting with APBN 2027, or no later than APBN 2028. In the petition, the applicants argued that using the education allocation for MBG contradicted Article 31 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution, which requires education spending to be at least 20 percent of APBN.