Privacy Policy

Last updated: 24 June 2026 · In terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA)

Summary: We collect your name, email, school details, and grade to operate the CAT Mentor service. Your chat messages are processed by OpenAI. We use teacher contact details for marketing only with explicit consent. You may request deletion of your data at any time.

1. Who We Are (Responsible Party)

AOLC (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party in terms of POPIA for personal information collected through AOLC CAT Mentor.
Contact: systems@aolc.co.za · aolc.tech

2. What Personal Information We Collect

Data	Who	Purpose
Full name, email address, password (hashed)	All users	Account authentication
School name, type, province, address, phone	Teachers	School registration; lead management
Principal name, number of learners	Teachers	Lead qualification for AOLC services
Grade (10, 11, or 12)	Students	Tailoring AI responses to curriculum level
Chat messages and AI responses	All users	Generating tutoring responses (processed by OpenAI)
Marketing consent + timestamp	Teachers	POPIA-compliant record of consent
IP address, session data	All users	Security and rate limiting

3. How We Use Your Information

Service delivery: Authenticating your account and providing the AI tutoring service.
Curriculum personalisation: Using your grade to tailor AI responses to the correct CAPS level.
Marketing (teachers only, with consent): Sending information about AOLC products, services, and educational resources. You may withdraw consent at any time by emailing systems@aolc.co.za.
Lead management: School registration details are used internally by AOLC to follow up with schools about our services.
Security: Preventing abuse, rate limiting, and protecting user accounts.

4. Third-Party Processing — OpenAI

Chat messages you send are transmitted to OpenAI for AI response generation. OpenAI processes this data as a data operator on our behalf. By using the chat feature, you acknowledge that your messages are processed by OpenAI in accordance with their Privacy Policy. Do not include sensitive personal information (ID numbers, financial details, medical information) in chat messages.

5. Children's Personal Information

Many users of this service are under 18 years of age. In terms of POPIA, the processing of children's personal information requires parental or guardian consent. By registering a student, the approving teacher confirms that appropriate parental consent has been obtained. We collect minimum necessary data from students (name, email, grade only) and do not use student data for marketing purposes.

6. Data Retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account is active.
Chat history is stored in your browser session and server session only; it is not permanently stored in our database.
Upon account deletion, your personal information will be removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

7. Your Rights Under POPIA

You have the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you.
Correct inaccurate personal information.
Request deletion of your personal information.
Object to the processing of your personal information for marketing.
Withdraw consent to marketing at any time.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at justice.gov.za/inforeg.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at systems@aolc.co.za.

8. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information, including password hashing (bcrypt), HTTPS encryption, and access controls. No system is completely secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above will reflect any changes. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance.

10. Contact the Information Officer

For any privacy-related queries or to exercise your POPIA rights:
AOLC (Pty) Ltd
Email: systems@aolc.co.za
Website: aolc.tech