(Adds details, analyst comment)

By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, July 29 (Reuters) – India has approved a plan to increase public spending on education to nearly 6% of gross domestic product from around 4% now, a government official said on Wednesday.

It will also cap fees charged by educational institutions.

Education is among sectors Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to reform in an effort to strengthen the economy following the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say his reforms fall far short of stated objectives.

The pandemic has seen millions of students hit by school closures. The government has taken steps to shift to online teaching but many students lack internet access.

The federal cabinet headed by Modi approved the new education policy after nationwide consultations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

The reforms would range from directives such as making school education compulsory from the age of three to encouraging the study of Sanskrit and other Indian languages as well as use of technology.

Government officials did not say when the new spending target would be met. Government panels have in the past recommended increasing education spending to 6% of GDP but the target has never been achieved.

“The plan to increase public spending on education to 6% of GDP can transform the Indian education system,” said N.R. Bhanumurthy, vice chancellor at Bengaluru Dr B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) University, but he said it needed to be achieved quickly.

He said India should aim to attract foreign students as it enjoyed a cost advantage and globally competitive institutions.

The new policy seeks to expand access to higher education for 50% of high school students by 2035, and achieve universal adult literacy before that date, said Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare.

India has the highest share of adults without a primary and upper secondary education among G20 countries, said an OECD report last year, urging the government to increase funding for the sector.

Nearly half of the 248 million Indian students were studying in private schools in 2019, according to government estimates, as teaching levels in the majority of state run schools remain low amid a shortage of teachers, poor regulation and inadequate funding. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Gareth Jones and Janet Lawrence)