Stride Privacy Policy

Effective date: 26 August 2026 Last updated: 26 August 2026

Legal-review note: this is a complete working draft. It must still be reviewed and signed off by a qualified South African attorney before you rely on it, because Stride processes the personal information of children (POPIA sections 34 and 35). The only real-world detail not embedded here is the registered entity's official particulars (see "Responsible party" below), which cannot be invented and must be confirmed by you.

1. Who we are

Stride ("Stride", "we", "us", "our") is a learning platform that helps South African learners find the gaps most likely holding back their schoolwork and rebuild them, one subject at a time, starting with Mathematics.

Responsible party (POPIA): Stride, operated by its founders, Kgomotso Porogo and Katleho Ngcebo Soko, in Gauteng, South Africa. Company registration is under way; this section will name the registered company and its number once it is complete. Information Officer: Under POPIA, the head of a private body is its Information Officer by default. The Stride Information Officer can be reached at info@stride-edu.co.za. Contact for privacy matters: info@stride-edu.co.za Website: https://stride-edu.co.za

2. Our promise in plain language

We built Stride for children and families, so we hold ourselves to a simple standard: we collect only what we need to help a learner, we never sell personal information, we never show advertising, and a parent or guardian is in control of a child's participation from the start. The detail below explains exactly how.

3. The information we collect

3.1 When you join the waitlist or apply for the beta

• Name
• Email address
• WhatsApp number
• The role you selected (learner, parent, teacher, or lecturer)
• The stage or program you chose
• Province
• Where relevant, a child's first name and grade

3.2 When a parent or guardian gives consent

• Parent or guardian name and contact details
• The consent record itself, together with the date, time, and IP address at the moment consent was given
• The link between a guardian and the learner in their care

3.3 When a learner uses Stride

• Account details (name, grade, subject)
• Diagnostic results (which concepts were tested and the outcomes)
• Learning activity: session outcomes, practice attempts, the spaced-review schedule, streaks, and progress
• Learning-science measures used to personalise teaching, such as a working memory span and simple check-in responses (for example a rough sense of rest)
• Technical information needed to run the service securely (see 3.4)

We do not knowingly collect more than we need to teach a learner and to keep a parent informed.

3.4 Information collected automatically

Like most online services, we collect limited technical information to operate and secure Stride: log data, device and browser type, and essential cookies or local storage needed for sign-in and preferences. See our Cookie Policy for detail.

Public demo access limits

The guided walkthrough of the public demo is open to everyone with no limit. The free-roam part of the demo is a 27-minute preview per browser. We use one essential signed cookie in your browser to remember when your preview ends and to ask you to wait 24 hours before starting another. We do not record your IP address or network for this, and we store nothing about it on our servers. The limit does not affect signing in to a real account.

How the public demo is used

To find where the demo is confusing, it reports which screens you open, how long you stay on each, whether a screen sat for a while with no tap, key or scroll, and a few actions such as skipping ahead or asking for another explanation. These reports are tied only to a random number your browser makes for that tab, which is forgotten when you close it. They are not linked to your name, an account or your IP address, and nothing you type into the demo is sent. To stop abuse, a one-way scrambled form of your network address is used to limit how many reports one connection can send; it is not stored with the reports.

4. Whether you have to give us information

Giving us your information is voluntary. You are never obliged to use Stride. However, some information is necessary for the service to work: if a parent does not give consent, or a learner does not provide the account details and answers the diagnostic needs, we cannot find the learning gap or build a plan, and the learner will not be able to use Stride. Providing waitlist or beta details is entirely optional and only used to contact you about the program.

5. Children's personal information

Stride is designed to be used by learners, including children under 18. Under POPIA, a child's personal information is special personal information, and it may only be processed with the consent of a competent person (a parent or legal guardian). Accordingly:

• A learner who is a child cannot begin using Stride until a parent or guardian has completed the consent process.
• The consent process explains, in plain language, what data is collected and why.
• What a parent or guardian can see and control: the linked parent or guardian can see their child's progress, the gap Stride is working on, and the plan, and they can ask to access, correct, or delete the child's information at any time.
• A parent or guardian can withdraw consent at any time, which ends the child's participation and triggers deletion in line with section 11.
• We do not sell children's personal information, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not share it except with the operators listed in section 7 who help us run the service.

We take reasonable steps to confirm that the person giving consent is the parent or guardian, including recording the consent event and its details, and we act on any indication that consent was not properly given.

6. Why we process your information (purpose and lawful basis)

7. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information. We share it only with service providers ("operators" under POPIA) who process it on our behalf, under contract, and only as needed to run Stride:

Each provider is bound to process personal information only on our instructions and to protect it. We may also disclose information where required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of learners and others.

8. Automated processing

Stride is an adaptive learning tool, so parts of it are automated: the diagnostic engine traces a learner's answers to find the likely gap, and the system builds a rebuild plan and schedules reviews. These are teaching aids, not decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on a person. A parent or guardian can always see the outcome, and a real person is available to review any concern. We do not use personal information for automated decisions with legal effect.

9. Cross-border transfers

Some of the providers in section 7 process information outside South Africa. Where that happens, we rely on the protections required by POPIA section 72, including binding commitments in each provider's data-processing terms that require a level of protection comparable to POPIA. By using Stride you acknowledge that your information may be processed in this way.

10. How we protect your information

We apply technical and organisational security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the data, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS) and encryption at rest by our database provider.
• Row-level security so that a learner's data is accessible only to that learner and their linked parent or guardian.
• Strict separation between public access and privileged server-side access.
• Append-only audit logging of sensitive events.
• Access limited to the minimum personnel who need it to operate the service.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We work continuously to protect the information in our care, but to the maximum extent permitted by law we do not accept liability for unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure that occurs despite our reasonable security measures. If a security compromise occurs that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA section 22, following the procedure in our internal Data Breach Response process.

11. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes in section 6, or as required by law:

• Learning and account data is retained while the account is active.
• If consent is withdrawn or an account is closed, we delete or anonymise the associated personal information within 30 days, except where we must retain limited records to comply with the law.
• Waitlist and beta contact details are kept until you ask us to remove them or the program ends.

12. Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you and request access to it.
• Ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, or no longer needed.
• Object to processing in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw consent at any time (this does not affect processing already carried out lawfully before withdrawal).
• Not have your information used for direct marketing without your consent.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

For a child's information, the parent or guardian who gave consent may exercise these rights on the child's behalf.

13. How to make a request or complaint

To exercise any right above, email info@stride-edu.co.za with your request. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act, to protect your information. We respond to requests as soon as reasonably possible and within the timeframes required by law. Formal POPIA access requests may be made using the process in our PAIA Manual. If you are not satisfied with how we handle a request, you may complain to us first at info@stride-edu.co.za, and you have the right to complain to the Information Regulator (section 14).

14. The Information Regulator

The Information Regulator (South Africa) JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 Email: complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za Website: https://inforegulator.org.za

15. Direct marketing

We will only send you marketing communications about Stride with your consent, and every such message includes a simple way to opt out. We do not sell or rent your contact details to third parties for their marketing.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make a material change we will update the effective date and, where appropriate, notify you. Continued use of Stride after an update means you accept the revised policy.

17. Contact us

For any privacy question or request: info@stride-edu.co.za.