Privacy Policy

When you create a Student Portal account:

• First name, last name and email address (required).
• Phone number (optional).
• Profile picture (optional).
• A password. Passwords are handled by our authentication provider and are stored only in hashed form; we cannot read them.
• The date and version of the terms you accepted when registering.

When you use the Student Portal:

• Courses you enrol in, your progress through lessons, quiz answers and scores, assignment submissions, and certificates issued to you.
• Payment records: the amount, reference, status, date, course or registration item, and the checkout session identifier from our payment provider.
• Notifications and announcements sent to you.
• A record of important account actions (for example enrolments, payment confirmations and certificate issue) kept for security and to resolve disputes.

We do not receive or store your card number, mobile money PIN or payment-provider password. You enter those only on the payment provider's own page.

When you contact us: if you use the contact form, it opens your own email app with the message prefilled. We receive the message only when you send it from your email account, together with whatever details you included.

When you post on the site (for example a testimonial, blog post or comment while signed in): the content you submit and the name and role you choose to display.

Automatically: our hosting and security systems process technical data such as IP address and browser type to serve pages, prevent abuse and rate-limit sign-in attempts. With your consent only, we also use Google Analytics (see section 6).

• To create and run your account, enrol you in courses, track progress and issue certificates (to perform our agreement with you).
• To take and confirm payments and keep accounting records (to perform our agreement with you and to meet legal and financial record-keeping duties).
• To keep the service secure, prevent fraud and investigate problems (our legitimate interest in running a safe service).
• To send service messages such as payment confirmations, password resets and course announcements (to perform our agreement with you).
• To measure how the website is used and improve it (only with your consent).
• To send push notifications (only if you turn them on in your browser).

We do not sell your personal data and we do not use it for advertising.

Your data is visible to you and to authorised PCTIH staff who need it for their role (for example administrators, instructors and finance). We also use these service providers ("processors") who handle data on our behalf:

• Supabase: database, sign-in and file storage (account data, progress, uploaded files and profile pictures).
• Vercel: website hosting and delivery.
• Monime: payment processing for card and mobile money payments. Monime has its own privacy terms for the details you enter on its page.
• Google Analytics: website usage statistics, only if you accept analytics cookies.
• YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode): plays lesson videos that instructors embed. YouTube may receive your IP address and device information when a video loads.
• Your browser's push service (such as Google, Apple or Mozilla): delivers notifications you opted in to.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it or to protect the rights and safety of our students, staff and the public.

Profile pictures are stored in a public-link storage area so they can be displayed. Anyone who has the exact link can view the image. Do not upload a picture you are not comfortable with, and ask us to remove it at any time.

Our providers may process data on servers outside Sierra Leone. We use providers that offer contractual and technical protections such as encryption in transit and access controls, but we cannot guarantee that the data protection laws of every country are identical to those of Sierra Leone.

• Account, progress and certificate records: while your account is active and for as long afterwards as is needed to verify certificates or resolve disputes, then deleted or anonymised.
• Payment records: as long as needed for accounting, audit and legal obligations.
• Security and audit records: only as long as needed for security and dispute resolution.
• We make regular access-restricted backups and the oldest backups are replaced automatically, so deleted data may remain in a backup for a limited time before it is overwritten.

We use browser storage that is strictly necessary to keep you signed in and to remember your cookie choice. We load Google Analytics only after you click "Accept analytics", never on the Student Portal, dashboard or management areas, with IP anonymisation switched on and advertising features off. You can change your choice at any time using "Cookie settings" in the footer. Details are in our Cookie Policy.

Subject to applicable law, you can ask us to:

• give you a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• correct data that is wrong or incomplete (you can edit your profile in the Student Portal);
• delete your account and personal data, unless we must keep some records (for example payment records);
• stop using your data for a purpose you previously agreed to, such as analytics or push notifications. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier processing.

To make a request, email peopleschoicet@gmail.com. We may need to confirm your identity first. If you are unhappy with our response, you may contact the relevant data protection or consumer authority in Sierra Leone.

Some of our programmes are for young learners. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to this policy and our terms before you register. Parents or guardians can contact us to review or delete a child's data.

We protect data with encrypted connections, access controls that limit staff to the information they need, server-side verification of payments, rate-limiting on sign-in and registration, and audit records. No online service is completely secure. Please use a strong, unique password, do not share it, and tell us immediately if you suspect misuse of your account. We will never ask for your PIN or password by phone, WhatsApp or email.

If we change how we use personal data we will update this page and its "last updated" date, and tell registered students where the change is significant.