Who we are
The SLP Platform is operated by the Department of Basic Education of the Republic of South Africa (the DBE, "we", "us"), in collaboration with UNESCO. It gives educators lesson-by-lesson access to the DBE's Scripted Lesson Plans for Comprehensive Sexuality Education.
The DBE is the responsible party for your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Our Information Officer is the Director-General of the Department of Basic Education. Contact details are at the end of this policy.
This policy applies to educators who register on the platform and to internal DBE staff who use its administration area. It does not apply to learners, who never use the platform.
What we collect
We collect only the information needed to give you access to the platform and to make the lessons useful in your classroom.
| Information | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Account details: your name, email address and a password, which we store only as a one-way hash. | You, when you register or update your profile. |
| Google sign-in details: your Google account identifier and profile picture, if you choose to sign in with Google. | Google, with your consent, when you use "Continue with Google". |
| Teaching context: your school, province, the grades you teach, and optionally your phone number, a short bio and an avatar picture link. | You, on your profile page. Phone, bio and avatar are optional. |
| Your notes: the teaching notes you save against a lesson. | You, when you write a note. |
| AI coach content: the answers you give on the teaching-context form (experience level, class size, teaching style, resources, challenges and concerns), the messages you send to the AI coach, and the guides and replies it generates. | You, when you use the AI coach. |
| Usage records: which lessons you open, when you sign in, and technical logs of AI requests (provider, model, token counts, timing and error status, never the text of your messages). | Created automatically as you use the platform. |
| Technical data: your IP address, browser type and a session identifier. | Your browser, automatically, to keep you signed in and to protect your account. |
Why we use it
We process your information for these purposes, and on these legal grounds under POPIA:
- To run your account and give you the lessons: signing you in, showing you the scripted lesson plans for your grade, and keeping your notes. This is necessary to provide the service you asked for.
- To personalise the AI coach: using your teaching context and lesson content so the guide it produces fits your class. This is done with your consent, which you give by filling in the form and using the coach.
- To keep the platform safe: detecting abuse, limiting repeated sign-in attempts and investigating problems. This is in our legitimate interest as the operator.
- To improve the platform: understanding, in aggregate, which lessons and features educators use. We use counts and totals for this, not individual profiles.
- To meet our legal duties as a public body, including record-keeping and responding to lawful requests.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
The AI coach
The AI coach is an optional feature. When you use it, the lesson content, your teaching-context answers and your chat messages are sent to Google LLC, which provides the Gemini models that generate the response. Google processes this information as our operator, under a written agreement, and only to provide the service to us.
Answers from the AI coach are automated and may be inaccurate. Always check the Educator guide before acting on them, and do not enter the names or other personal details of learners, parents or colleagues into the chat or the teaching-context form.
We keep the messages and generated guides in your account so you can return to them. Technical logs of each request record the provider, model, token counts and whether the request succeeded. They never contain the text of what you wrote.
Learner information
The platform is for lesson preparation, not learner records. We do not ask for, and you should not enter, any information that identifies a learner. If a note or chat message you write contains a learner's personal information, you are responsible for it as the educator, and we will delete it if you or your school ask us to.
The platform is not intended for use by anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Who we share it with
We share your information only with the operators we need to run the platform, and only for the purposes above:
- Google LLC, for Google sign-in (if you use it) and for the Gemini models behind the AI coach.
- Our hosting and email providers, which store the platform's data and send you password reset messages.
- UNESCO, as our collaboration partner, receives only aggregated, anonymised statistics about platform use. It does not receive your personal information.
- Your school or provincial education department, only to confirm that you are an educator entitled to access, or where the law requires it.
We may also disclose information where a court, regulator or law requires us to do so.
Transfers outside South Africa
The platform is hosted, and the AI coach is processed, on servers outside South Africa. This means your information may be transferred to and stored in another country. We only do this where, as section 72 of POPIA requires, the recipient is bound by a law, binding corporate rules or a written agreement that gives your information protection substantially similar to POPIA, or where you have consented to the transfer, or where the transfer is necessary to provide the service you asked for.
Cookies
The platform uses a small number of strictly necessary cookies. None are used for advertising or cross-site tracking.
| Cookie | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
| Session cookie | Keeps you signed in as you move between pages. | 2 hours of inactivity |
| Security token | Protects forms against cross-site request forgery. | 2 hours of inactivity |
| Remember me | Keeps you signed in on this device, if you tick the box at log in. | Until you log out |
You can delete cookies in your browser settings at any time. If you do, you will need to sign in again.
How long we keep it
- Your account, profile, notes and AI coach content are kept for as long as your account is active.
- Accounts with no sign-in for 24 months are reviewed, and we may close them after giving you notice by email.
- When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your personal information within 30 days, except where we must keep a record to meet a legal duty.
- Technical logs that include your IP address are kept for no longer than 12 months.
- Aggregated statistics that no longer identify you may be kept indefinitely.
How we protect it
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to secure your information, in line with section 19 of POPIA. These include encrypting connections to the platform, storing passwords only as one-way hashes, restricting the administration area to authorised DBE staff, limiting repeated sign-in attempts, and keeping the AI coach's technical logs free of message text.
If we become aware of a security compromise that affects your personal information, we will notify the Information Regulator and you as section 22 of POPIA requires.
Your rights
Under POPIA you have the right to:
- Ask what we hold about you and receive a copy.
- Correct or update your information. You can change your name, email, teaching context and password yourself on your profile page.
- Ask us to delete your account, your notes or your AI coach content.
- Object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests.
- Withdraw consent to the AI coach at any time by simply not using it. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already took place.
- Complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za if you believe we have not handled your information lawfully.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, so that we do not release information to the wrong person.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the platform changes or as the law requires. We will show the new effective date at the top of this page, and where a change affects your rights materially we will tell you by email or with a notice when you next sign in.
Contact us
Information Officer
Department of Basic Education
222 Struben Street, Pretoria, 0001
Private Bag X895, Pretoria, 0001
Email: info@dbe.gov.za
Call centre: 0800 202 933
For help with your account, contact your school's platform administrator first. They can reach us on your behalf.