Govt. College Of Nursing (GCON), Jaipur

Year 1963 brought new hopes for the girls of Rajasthan who have completed their schooling with science biology and could not get access to medical colleges. Accordingly first time in the history a graduate level university programme- B.Sc. in Nursing, a professional degree course was established in a separate newly constructed building near nurses’ hostel in the campus of SMS Hospital, Jaipur. Govt College of Nursing, Jaipur, was induced in 1963 as anattached department of SMS medical college withtheUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID) (then T.C.M.) assistance.

The Planners of the Institute realized at the very beginning that unless there was a parallel improvement in nursing and other allied sciences, medical care could not improve. They felt the need for bettering nursing through the establishment of an institution for higher education in nursing and thus the seed was sown.

Miss C.C. Brofy, and Ms.  Jeanette Jackson USAID Nurse Educator was assigned to assist Rajasthan Government in implementing the objectives of the college of nursing. The objectives of the college were to develop university level nursing studies leading to B.Sc. degree for registered nurse midwives, for leadership positions in education, administration and selected nursing specialties with the ultimate aim of improving patient care standards. Books, teaching aids, office equipment were supplied by USAID initially.

In June 1962 Ms. Susheela Mishra, who trained with Ms. Jeanette Jackson of USAID was appointed as state nursing superintendent inRajasthan. In 1964 they handed over the charge of the college to the then chief nursing superintendent of medical directorate Ms. Susheela Mishra. Ms. Beenapani Benjamin, Mr. Ramswaroop Vyas, Ms. V. Ranga and Ms. Samuel were appointed to teach the students.

That time this college was included in the list of the few pioneer nursing colleges of India. When it was started in 1963 there were 20 seats in the college. A batch of 11 students was admitted in 1963 under the affiliation of Rajasthan University, Jaipur for B.Sc. degree in Nursing. Since its first batch graduated in 1967, the college of nursing has modeled innovation and excellence in nursing education. The seats were enhanced to 40 in 1985.The program has prepared thousands of nurses who have helped lead our county’s health care system as caregivers, executive leaders, effective teachers, trail-blazing researchers, policymakers and community transformers.

The college was started some short-term courses like DNEA in 1987. The college faced many hurdles since its inception related to the admission of male nurses. Sometimes it admitted boys and in other years it did not admit boys. This resulted in several protests and strikes. The College of Nursing introduced a B. Sc. Nursing degree program of two year for trained and registered nurses of Department Of Medical And Health, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 1988 with sanctioned seats of 26. This programme was started to encourage the General Nursing and Midwifery Diploma holders to improve their knowledge and skills by obtaining a degree in nursing. This College is also a study center for Post Basic distance education leading to a BSc Nursing degree by IGNOU since 1994. The annual intake of students in each batch is 30. M.Sc. Nursing Program started in 2007 with 25 seats in all five specialties. The Post-basic BSc nursing program started with intake of 25 candidates in 2008 under affiliation of Rajasthan University of Health Sciences and Indian Nursing Council, New Delhi.

This is the only college in Rajasthan where there is no fee of any kind for studying this college. On the contrary, all the students get the scholarship in the form of stipend every month. College awards stipend for B.Sc. Nursing candidates Rs. 250/- per month to female and 150/- to male students.

By the positive support of Government of Rajasthan and the encouragement of Dr. U. S. Agrawal, Principal and Controller of S.M.S. Medical College, Jaipur, Dr. Jogendra Sharma, Principal Government College Of Nursing, Jaipur was successful in raising the B.Sc. Nursing seats from 26 to 100 in the year 2016. Thanks to almighty.