Privacy policy

1. Who we are

SchoolMate ("the Platform") is a multi-tenant school management platform. Each school (the "Institution") is the data controller for the personal data it enters; the Platform acts as the data processor on the Institution's documented instructions. Because we process children's data, guardian details and health and biometric-adjacent information, Institutions should complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment before enabling proctoring, transport tracking or health modules.

2. What we collect

• School data — institution name, contacts, configuration, branding.
• Student data — bio-data, guardianship, attendance, academic records, health notes, fees and payments, photographs.
• Guardian data — names and contact details, used to link portal/app accounts and for school communication.
• Staff data — profiles, roles, payroll records entered by the Institution.
• Proctoring imagery — where an Institution enables CBT proctoring, the candidate's webcam captures still images during the exam. These may be processed by automated/AI risk analysis to flag possible irregularities; a flag is advisory and is reviewed by a person. Access is candidate-scoped, permission-checked and logged.
• Location & transport telemetry — where transport tracking is enabled, vehicle GPS positions and RFID/QR boarding events (which can indicate a child's approximate location) are processed for safety and pick-up/drop-off.
• Offline exam data — the desktop CBT app and local center server store exam content, candidate answers and result logs on the device. Answer keys are encrypted at rest and purged after the exam window; devices are enrolled and bound per school.
• Technical data — sign-in timestamps, audit trails, device identifiers for the mobile app.

3. Why we process it (lawful basis)

To deliver school administration services on the Institution's instructions: enrolment, academics, assessment, communication, finance, transport, boarding and safeguarding. The Institution's lawful basis is typically the performance of its contract with families and its legitimate interest in safe, effective administration; certain processing (e.g. exam proctoring, health data) may require the Institution to provide a specific notice to guardians and, where appropriate, offer an alternative or accommodation. We do not sell personal data or use it for advertising.

4. AI & third-party processing

Where an Institution enables AI features (including proctoring analysis and assistant tools), content necessary for the feature may be sent to the AI provider the Institution configures. Each Institution controls its own provider credentials. Sub-processors include the configured payment gateways (e.g. Paystack, Flutterwave, Interswitch), email/SMS providers, and — only when enabled — geocoding and AI providers. A current list is available from the Institution on request. Some providers may process data outside Nigeria; Institutions are responsible for ensuring an appropriate transfer basis before enabling such a provider.

5. Tenant isolation & security

• Every record is scoped to its Institution and access is enforced by a central authorization policy (role, permission and resource ownership) plus tenant scoping on every query.
• Passwords are hashed (bcrypt); two-factor authentication is available and can be enforced per school.
• Stored integration secrets (payment, SMTP, OIDC, AI keys), TOTP seeds and device tokens are encrypted at rest.
• Audit logs record who accessed and changed what, and when; sensitive reads such as proctoring images are logged.
• Payments are processed by licensed gateways; we never store card numbers.

6. Retention (by category)

• Proctoring images — retained only as long as the Institution needs to review exam integrity, and no longer than the Institution's configured retention window; deleted thereafter.
• Location/transport telemetry — short-lived operational data, retained for the current term's safety and dispute needs unless the Institution sets a shorter period.
• Offline answer keys on devices — purged 24 hours after an exam's availability window closes.
• Academic, finance and audit records — retained while the subscription is active and for any statutory period the Institution must observe.
• Trial institutions — disabled after their trial and permanently deleted 30 days later unless upgraded.

On contract termination, data is exported to the Institution on request and then deleted from live systems; residual copies in encrypted backups are removed on the backup rotation cycle.

7. Your rights

Students, guardians and staff may request access, correction, erasure or objection through their Institution, which controls the records and will action requests within the timelines the NDPA requires. Platform-level enquiries: hello@schoolmate.africa.

8. Breach response

On becoming aware of a personal-data breach, we notify affected Institutions without undue delay so they can meet their own regulator- and data-subject-notification duties, and we support their investigation.

9. Changes

Material changes increment the version above and are notified to Institutions. The effective date and version let each Institution record which version its users accepted.