The influence of MBG on elementary school students’ learning readiness: implementation of government policy

Abstract

The Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) program, also known as the Free Nutritious Meal program, represents one of the Indonesian government’s flagship policies aimed at improving children’s nutritional status and, by extension, their capacity to learn. This study aims to examine the influence of MBG implementation on elementary school students’ learning readiness, with particular attention to how the policy is executed at the school level. A quantitative survey design was employed, involving 180 elementary school students from three public elementary schools that have implemented the MBG program. Data were collected using a learning readiness scale and a program implementation questionnaire, and were analyzed using simple linear regression.

The results indicate that MBG implementation has a significant positive influence on students’ learning readiness, with a regression coefficient of 0.412 and a significance level of p = 0.000 (p < 0.05). The MBG program explains 27.3 percent of the variance in learning readiness, while the remaining 72.7 percent is influenced by other factors outside the scope of this study. These findings suggest that consistent and well-managed implementation of the MBG policy, including meal quality, distribution timing, and teacher involvement, contributes meaningfully to students’ physical energy, concentration, and emotional readiness to learn. This study concludes that the MBG program functions effectively as an instrument of government policy to support learning readiness among elementary school students.