Indah Permata Sari could not hold back tears during a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta earlier this week.
The public primary school teacher from Cibitung, about 50 kilometres east of Jakarta, pleaded with the government to pay closer attention to the welfare of temporary teachers like her, many of whom earn below the minimum wage.
"After teaching, I then work again delivering laundry, sir," Ms Sari said, her voice breaking.
At least 700,000 of these teachers, known as honorary teachers, work across Indonesia under conditions similar to Ms Sari, according to data from the Indonesian Teachers Association.
Seventy-four per cent of them earn less than 2 million rupiah (around $170) per month, with some receiving under 500,000 rupiah ($43), a joint 2025 survey from think tank Institute for Demographic and Affluence Studies (IDEAS) and education group GREAT Edunesia found.
Teachers with civil service contracts were also underpaid, and paid late.
Even some teachers employed under government fixed-term contracts were still being paid "far below decent wages", teachers association representatives told the hearing.
"For instance in Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, salaries are as low as 139,000 rupiah (about $11) [a month]," a representative said.
While the issue of low teachers' wages remains unresolved, the government announced that almost one third of this year's national education budget would be allocated to Indonesia's free meal program, known locally as "Makan Bergizi Gratis" (MBG).
Championed by President Prabowo Subianto, the initiative aims to provide nutritious meals to almost 83 million Indonesians by 2029.
It has been criticised for poor oversight, questionable food sourcing and unhygienic kitchen conditions since it began in 2025.
IDEAS, in a policy brief released last month, estimated that the free meals budget could instead fund free basic education for all Indonesian children, provide scholarships for nearly 3 million poor students, and raise salaries for 2.1 million honorary teachers to the provincial minimum wage.
Budget move hits teachers' incomes
The government's decision to pour more money into the free meals program has sparked criticism in Indonesia.
"With the existing budget alone, teacher welfare isn't secure … now about 233.5 trillion rupiah ($19.14 billion) is taken away, making things even harder," said Iman Zanatul Haeri, head of teacher advocacy at the Education and Teachers Association.
Mr Haeri said that when the meals program began last year, using 71 trillion rupiah ($6.04?billion) from the education budget, many teachers had already started complaining about late and low salary payments.
He added that the decision to take money from the education budget also affected funds transferred to regional education offices, which pay both civil servant and honorary teachers.
"This regional allocation, which was already small for honorary teachers, has become even smaller due to MBG [the free meals program]," he said.
The funding cuts have impacted Agustinus Nitbani, a temporary teacher who has worked for 23 years at a public primary school in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
A video of Mr Nitbani explaining his salary and decades of service has gone viral in recent weeks.
"I started as an honorary teacher in 2004 earning 50,000 rupiah ($4.50)," he said in the video.
"In 2017 it increased to 100,000 rupiah ($8.50) per month … then in 2021 my salary rose to 600,000 rupiah ($42). But this semester, our pay was cut — now we get only 223,000 rupiah ($19) a month."
The ABC understands that after the video went viral, the school principal was summoned by the local education office for questioning.
Mr Nitbani said he could not take part in an interview with ABC as he waited for an official inquiry to finish up, but said he intended to continue teaching.
"Since setting up Batu Esa primary school, and after earning my teaching diploma, I have been determined to teach until retirement, to help educate the nation," he said.
'Deeply hurts teachers' hearts'
As honorary teachers like Mr Nitbani try to survive salary cuts, a new issue has emerged.
The government has appointed 32,000 free meal program kitchen workers as civil servants under work agreements.
That is the same status held by Jatmiko, a teacher in Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatra, who spent six years as an honorary teacher before he found secure, well-paid work.
Jatmiko said the policy promoting free meal program workers was unfair to teachers.
"This clearly deeply hurts the hearts of honorary teachers … those who have served for decades without certainty of being appointed should be prioritised first.
"What is the importance of kitchen staff being made government employees? What is the urgency?"
He added that kitchen workers and drivers for the free meals program already earned more than many honorary teachers.
Dede Patimah, a maths teacher at a vocational school in West Java, urged the Indonesian government to prioritise teacher welfare.
"You can't be late paying the electricity bill — but how do we pay when our income is late? Where do we make up the shortfall?" she said.
"Shouldn't educating children start with ensuring their teachers are able to live decently?"
Ms Patimah also questioned the basis for elevating kitchen staff to government-paid roles.
"MBG is run by private operators, so why are the workers paid by the government?" she said.
"What about us who have served for years and passed the exams … eventually teachers might disappear."
Iman Zanatul Haeri from the teachers' association said the MBG program "actually shows the government can improve people's welfare, including teachers".
"With one government regulation or presidential decree, people can be appointed overnight.
"The education budget can pay MBG kitchen workers proper minimum wages, so why can't this apply to teachers?
"It's all about political will."
The Indonesian government has been contacted for comment.
Funding decision prompts court case
The government's decision to allocate nearly one third of the education budget to the free meals program has prompted students, teachers and a school foundation to file a case in the Constitutional Court.
They are asking the court to prevent education funds from being used for the free meals program and to require that the 2026 education budget be allocated strictly for core education functions.
"Education primarily concerns facilities, teacher salaries, teaching activities, scholarships … therefore, MBG allocations should not be part of the education budget," petitioner Dzakwan Fadhil Putra Kusuma told BBC Indonesia.
They also say the 2026 budget violates the constitution, which mandates a minimum education budget of 20 per cent of the total spend.
Responding to the lawsuit, National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana stressed that his agency only used the funds and did not determine the national budget.
"It is not BGN that decides the budget. We only implement it," he told reporters.
Mr Hindayana said the MBG program was targeting 82.9 million recipients this year and remained confident the goal could be reached within five months.
To achieve it, he said the agency would build 33,000 MBG kitchens this year.
President Prabowo Subianto this week declared the free meals program a success, saying it had reached 60 million beneficiaries as of February 1, with an "almost perfect" success rate.
"If we add up how many people were poisoned compared to how many billions of meals we distributed, the statistic is 0.0087 per cent. What does that mean? It means 99.99 per cent of MBG should be considered successful," he said.
