Bogor, West Java, Feb. 11 -- National Development Planning Minister Rachmat Pambudy has said that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program can increase education participation in Indonesia.

"The result is clear: it can increase education participation. With the MBG program, students are more diligent in attending school," he added at the launch of a Center of Excellence (CoE) at the Agribusiness and Technology Park (ATP) of IPB University here on Tuesday.

He said that compared to the 139 other countries that have implemented similar programs, the scope of Indonesia's MBG program is wider, reaching students up to senior high school and special school levels.

"The challenge is the extraordinary number of targets, 92.78 million with 26,508...