In an endeavour to provide a single platform to integrate quality assurance across all its services, the Leather Sector Skill Council (LSSC) has announced the launch of Skill Certification Assessment for Leather Employees (SCALE) India android app. Operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE), LSSC is committed to strengthen its digital capabilities on quality assurance across training delivery, monitoring, assessments, verification and linkages to ASEEM portal. Synonymous with assessments, the cornerstone of quality assurance and the one of the main functions of LSSC, this unique initiative aims to provide a one-stop solution for the skilling, learning, assessment and employment needs of the leather and leather products industry.

The android app was launched by Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship at a virtual event organized by LSSC that witnessed participation of Mr. P R Aqeel Ahmed, Chairman, LSSC and Mr. Rajesh Rathnam, CEO, LSSC. The platform caters to the need of all the stakeholders of the skilling and employment ecosystem namely – candidate/trainee, employer, employee, assessor and trainer all at one place. The services are accessible through the web and android application that virtually works on any smart handheld device, desktop/laptop, smartphones, tablets or phablets. Apart from providing end to end quality assurance across training, assessment, and certification services, the app will also help employers engage with other stakeholders seamlessly and provide a marketplace for human capital for the leather industry.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “The launch of SCALE India platform by LSSC will boost our relentless efforts to strengthen the leather skilling ecosystem and help us inch closer to fulfill our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of making an ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ the ‘Skill Capital of the World’. By leveraging technology to bring in efficient and intelligent tools to drive demand-driven and future-relevant skilling programs, this platform will ensure seamless convergence and coordination across various schemes and programs as a single point interface. It will play a crucial role in providing quality assured services to all stakeholders by aggregating demand and connecting supply to demand, all through one platform.”

SCALE will help candidates in the skilling ecosystem to get assessed and certified on their knowledge, skills and behaviour on a specific qualification pack. It also enables access to micro-learning modules for bridging the skill gaps that are identified and can be re-assessed and certified at the end of the learning on the specific qualification pack. It further assists the candidate to become a productive resource who is readily employable in the industry. The candidates can search for employment opportunities and connect with employers post completion of their certification. The assessments are currently available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, with plans to add more regional languages in a phased manner.

From an employer standpoint, the platform will serve as a job portal with access to a certified talent pool of candidates to hire from, leading to increase in productivity and profitability. Employers also get to share their skill gap requirements and check for suitable training modules available to bridge the skill gap of their workforce and raise training requests for short term/customised training that would be serviced by the LSSC. The employment demand aggregation works through the integration of the ASEEM portal with the SCALE platform. Facility to raise requests for trained resources and Apprenticeship implementation based on NAPS has also been provided to promote adoption of NAPS by the employers. Further, requests for implementing RPL at the employer establishments can also be raised through the SCALE platform.

Employees across the leather and leather products industry can also register themselves to explore e-learning content for upskilling and get certified post learning, leading to improvement in productivity, better perks, and upward career movement. The SCALE platform assists employees to upgrade their skills basis changing market dynamics and evolving industry demands and get certified on the new skills acquired, with the facility to create a certification stack that acts as a key element of their curriculum vitae. For assessors, the platform provides centralised access to batches tagged to a qualification pack for conducting assessments on the scheduled date as the results are available instantaneously to the assessor and real time data of the candidates assessed are available to the LSSC as the assessing and certifying body.

The platform will also help trainers get complete access to all the learning and training resources required for effective delivery of standardised training for batches on schedule. The resources such as presentations, video clips, quizzes, classroom activities, on the job training exercises and activities are made available to the trainer as per the training session plan. This assists trainers by ensuring uniformity in learning and adherence to quality norms. The platform facilitates capturing attendance of the trainees, progress of training, feedback and other documentation required for compliance. This enables the trainer to manage time effectively and focus on the core job of training candidates to become skilled and employable resources.