The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on October 09, 2026, in collaboration with the Indian Nursing Council (INC) and with technical support from Jhpiego, has developed revised Performance Standards to strengthen the quality of pre-service nursing education in India. The standards align with the revised competency-based nursing curricula and applicable regulatory requirements, emphasizing outcome-based education, simulation-based learning, mastery learning, and continuous quality improvement.
The revised standards apply to institutions offering General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM), Basic B.Sc. Nursing, and Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing programmes. They comprise 85 standards and 476 verification criteria across five sections: Theory and Practical Instruction (15 standards), Clinical Instruction and Practice (18), Infrastructure and Training Materials (17), Nursing Educational Institution Management (21), and Best Practices (14).
The standards provide a structured framework for institutional self-assessment, quality assurance, accreditation preparation, benchmarking, and performance monitoring. Institutions can use them to identify gaps, implement corrective measures, strengthen governance and faculty competencies, and improve student learning outcomes. The framework builds on the Standards-Based Management and Recognition (SBM-R) approach, implemented through National and State Nodal Centres, which has contributed to improvements in educational infrastructure, student competencies, faculty performance, and the overall quality of nursing education and training.
