Privacy Policy

WEBSTRAKE TECHNOLOGIES LLP operates Slate, a school management platform used by schools in India. This policy explains what information Slate handles, who decides how it is used, and who to approach about it.

Slate is a webStrake product, and everyone who signs in to Slate does so with a webStrake account. Anything to do with the account itself, how it is created, how long it is kept, your rights over it and how it is closed, is governed by the webStrake Privacy Policy, which applies alongside this one. This policy covers what is specific to Slate.

Who controls the information in your school's Slate

This is the most important part of this policy, so it comes first.

Your school is in charge of its own records. The school, and the trust, society or company that runs it, decides which students and staff to record, what to collect about them, and how long to keep it. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the school is the Data Fiduciary for that information.

We hold that information on the school's behalf and act on its instructions. In the language of the same Act, we act as a Data Processor for what a school enters into Slate: students, parents, staff, attendance, fees, marks, transport, conduct and the rest. We do not decide what goes into your school's records.

We are responsible for our own relationship with the organization. When an organization subscribes, or writes to us for support, we decide how that information is used, so for that limited set we act as a Data Fiduciary.

Who to approach

Parents and staff should approach their school, not us. Your school controls its own records and can correct or remove them directly in Slate. We cannot act on a request about a school's records from an individual, because the records are not ours to change. Requests of that kind must come from the school.

For your webStrake account as distinct from your school's records, follow the webStrake Privacy Policy.

Information in your school's Slate

What a school records depends on which parts of Slate it uses, and on what the school chooses to enter. It can include:

• Students: name, admission number, class and section, date of birth, gender, photograph, guardians and their contact details, address, and, where the school chooses to record them, health notes such as allergies or medical conditions. Students do not have their own Slate accounts.
• Parents and guardians: name, relationship to the student, mobile number, email address and occupation.
• Staff: name, contact details, designation and department, employment record, photograph, attendance and leave.
• School activity: attendance, fee charges and payments, marks and progress cards, homework and notices, discipline records, award points, transport routes and boarding records, and gate visitor entries.

How the information is used

We use it to provide Slate to your school, to keep the service running, secure and supported, to deal with billing, and to meet our legal obligations. We also use information about how Slate is used to understand which parts are working and to improve the product.

Where we use information for a purpose beyond running the service for your school, we do so in line with this policy and applicable law, and if we introduce a materially different purpose we will update this policy and tell the subscribing organization.

Children's information

Most students in a school are under eighteen, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 treats them as children.

The school holds the relationship with the parent, so the school is responsible for telling parents what it records and for obtaining parental consent where the law requires it. Slate gives the school the tools to keep those records accurate and to remove them.

We do not use children's information for targeted advertising, and we do not carry out behavioural tracking or advertising directed at children. Slate does not show advertising.

Services we rely on

Slate uses a small number of outside services across our website, web app and mobile apps. Each receives only what it needs to do its job.

• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers notifications to the mobile apps and the browser.
• Google Analytics and Firebase analytics tell us how Slate is used, such as which screens are opened and where people run into trouble, so we can improve it. This is measurement, not advertising.
• Google Maps draws the maps used for attendance zones and bus stops, and finds places when a stop is being added.
• Cashfree processes online fee payments, when a school turns them on. Card and bank details are handled by the payment provider, not by Slate.
• The webStrake accounts service verifies who is signing in. Slate never stores your password.

We may also share information with professional advisers, or where we are required to by law, by a court, or by a regulator, and in connection with a reorganisation or transfer of our business.

Keeping information

A school's records stay in Slate for as long as the school keeps using it, because a school needs its history: a former student's attendance and fee record has to remain available after they leave. Records of students who leave or graduate move to the former students area rather than being erased, so the school can still produce them.

One period is fixed in the product: visitor photographs taken at the gate are kept for thirty days and then removed.

We keep information for as long as it is needed for the purposes in this policy, and longer where the law requires it, for example tax and accounting records. Copies may persist in routine backups for a period after deletion. How long your account is kept is covered by the webStrake Privacy Policy.

See Data Deletion for how removal works in practice.

Security

Slate is served only over an encrypted connection, and access inside a school follows the person's role and duties, so a parent reaches only their own child and a staff member reaches only the work their role covers.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so while we take reasonable steps to protect information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. Keeping sign-in details confidential, and removing access for people who leave, remains the school's responsibility.

Your rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may ask for a summary of the personal data held about you, ask for it to be corrected or completed, ask for it to be erased, nominate someone to act for you, and raise a grievance, subject to the limits the law allows.

Exercise these rights for school records through your school, and for your webStrake account through the webStrake Privacy Policy.

Grievances

If you are not satisfied with how a request about Slate has been handled, write to Ajit Kothari, Grievance Officer, at contact@slate.webstrake.com.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will update the date shown below and, where a change is significant, tell the organizations that subscribe to Slate. Continuing to use Slate after a change means the updated policy applies.

Contact

Write to contact@slate.webstrake.com with any question about this policy.