Vorqela

Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Vorqela (Pty) Ltd respects privacy and is committed to protecting personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how Vorqela collects, uses, stores, protects, shares, and retains personal information when users access the Vorqela website, platform, digital learning tools, educational games, assessments, school pilots, forms, surveys, and related services.

This Privacy Policy applies to learners, parents, guardians, teachers, schools, website visitors, platform users, partners, contractors, service providers, and any person who interacts with Vorqela.

Because Vorqela works with learners, including children under the age of 18, Vorqela treats learner information and child data with special care.

2. Who We Are

Vorqela (Pty) Ltd is an EdTech company that develops curriculum-linked game-based educational products, learning tools, assessments, digital learning experiences, and educational content to support mathematics learning, learner confidence, engagement, and academic progress.

Company Details:
Company Name: Vorqela (Pty) Ltd
Registration Number: K2024/012445/07
Website: www.vorqela.co.za
Email: info@vorqela.co.za
Internal Data Protection Lead: Tlotliso Kama

3. What Personal Information We Collect

Vorqela may collect different types of personal information depending on how a person uses Vorqela.

3.1 Learner Information

Vorqela may collect learner names, surnames, grade, school name, class or teacher information, platform profile information, login information, marks, assessment results, game performance data, learning progress data, platform usage data, survey responses, feedback, confidence and engagement responses, photos, videos, voice recordings, testimonials, and other information necessary for educational support and programme participation.

3.2 Parent or Guardian Information

Vorqela may collect parent or guardian names, surnames, relationship to learner, cellphone number, email address, residential area or town, consent responses, communication preferences, and questions or feedback submitted to Vorqela.

3.3 Teacher and School Information

Vorqela may collect teacher names, school names, roles, contact details, grade or subject information, training attendance, survey responses, implementation feedback, classroom observation data, and school pilot information.

3.4 Website and Technical Information

Vorqela may collect technical information such as device information, browser type, IP address, login records, platform usage logs, session duration, activity completion, feature usage, error patterns, and analytics data.

3.5 Media Information

Where consent has been obtained, Vorqela may collect photos, videos, voice recordings, interviews, testimonials, learner stories, event footage, school visit footage, and related media information.

3.6 Staff, Contractor, Partner, and Supplier Information

Vorqela may collect names, contact details, role information, contracts, work records, payment information, access permissions, and other information necessary for business operations.

4. How We Collect Personal Information

Vorqela may collect personal information through:

  1. Website forms;
  2. Platform registration;
  3. Digital learning tools;
  4. Educational games;
  5. Assessments;
  6. Surveys and questionnaires;
  7. Parent/guardian consent forms;
  8. Learner assent forms;
  9. School pilot activities;
  10. Emails and communication channels;
  11. WhatsApp or other communication tools;
  12. School-provided information;
  13. Teacher submissions;
  14. Photos, videos, interviews, and events;
  15. Cookies or analytics tools;
  16. Direct communication with parents, guardians, learners, schools, or partners.

5. Why We Collect Personal Information

Vorqela may use personal information to:

  1. Provide access to the Vorqela website, platform, games, assessments, and learning activities;
  2. Register learners and users;
  3. Support mathematics learning and educational progress;
  4. Track learner performance, progress, engagement, and confidence;
  5. Generate learner, parent, teacher, school, internal, and impact reports;
  6. Conduct school pilots;
  7. Conduct research, monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities;
  8. Improve Vorqela products, content, platform features, curriculum alignment, and user experience;
  9. Communicate with parents, guardians, schools, teachers, users, and partners;
  10. Manage consent and participation permissions;
  11. Protect learner safety and platform integrity;
  12. Prepare anonymised or aggregated reports for schools, funders, partners, or stakeholders;
  13. Use photos, videos, testimonials, or learner stories where consent has been obtained;
  14. Manage payments, subscriptions, invoices, refunds, and customer support where applicable;
  15. Comply with legal, audit, accounting, contractual, or regulatory obligations.

6. Children's Privacy

Vorqela works with learners and may collect information about children under the age of 18.

Vorqela will take special care when processing children's information. This means:

  1. Vorqela will only collect child information for legitimate educational, operational, research, reporting, safeguarding, and product-improvement purposes;
  2. Vorqela will seek parent or guardian consent where required;
  3. Vorqela may seek learner assent where appropriate;
  4. Vorqela will not sell learner personal information;
  5. Vorqela will not publicly share learner marks, assessment results, photos, videos, or testimonials without appropriate consent;
  6. Vorqela will avoid harmful profiling, public shaming, or unfair exposure of learner weaknesses;
  7. Vorqela will limit access to learner information to authorised people who need it for legitimate purposes;
  8. Vorqela will use anonymised or aggregated data where possible for public reporting or funder reporting.

7. Photos, Videos, and Testimonials

Vorqela may collect photos, videos, voice recordings, testimonials, interviews, and learner stories only where appropriate consent has been obtained.

Where the person is a learner under 18, parent or guardian consent must be obtained for public use. Learner assent may also be obtained where appropriate.

Photos, videos, and testimonials may be used for internal records, school documentation, impact reports, presentations, funding applications, marketing material, website content, social media, or case studies only where the relevant consent allows such use.

8. Lawful Basis for Processing

Vorqela processes personal information only where there is a lawful basis to do so. This may include:

  1. Consent;
  2. Performance of a contract or agreement;
  3. Compliance with a legal obligation;
  4. Legitimate educational, operational, research, safety, administrative, or business interests;
  5. School-authorised participation;
  6. Parent or guardian authorisation;
  7. Protection of the rights, safety, or interests of the learner or another person.

9. How We Share Personal Information

Vorqela may share personal information only where lawful, necessary, and appropriate.

Personal information may be shared with:

  1. Parents or guardians;
  2. The learner's school;
  3. Teachers or authorised school administrators;
  4. Approved Vorqela team members;
  5. Approved service providers;
  6. Researchers or evaluators under confidentiality and data protection rules;
  7. Funders, partners, or stakeholders in anonymised or aggregated form where possible;
  8. Regulators or authorities where legally required;
  9. Professional advisors, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, or compliance advisors.

Vorqela will not sell learner personal information.

10. Third-Party Service Providers

Vorqela may use third-party service providers for hosting, analytics, cloud storage, payment processing, communication, design, software development, platform support, or business operations.

Where service providers process personal information on behalf of Vorqela, Vorqela will take reasonable steps to ensure that they are suitable and subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection obligations.

11. Cookies and Analytics

Vorqela's website or platform may use cookies, tracking technologies, and analytics tools to understand website usage, improve platform performance, remember user preferences, support security, and improve user experience.

Users may be able to control cookies through their browser settings. Some website or platform features may not work properly if cookies are disabled.

12. How We Protect Personal Information

Vorqela will take reasonable technical, organisational, and administrative measures to protect personal information.

These measures may include:

  1. Password-protected systems;
  2. Role-based access control;
  3. Restricted access to learner data;
  4. Secure cloud storage;
  5. Encrypted systems where appropriate;
  6. Regular backups;
  7. Confidentiality obligations for staff and contractors;
  8. Access reviews;
  9. Secure deletion practices;
  10. Data breach response procedures.

13. How Long We Keep Personal Information

Vorqela will not keep personal information for longer than necessary.

Retention periods may depend on:

  1. The purpose for which the information was collected;
  2. Legal, audit, accounting, or contractual obligations;
  3. School pilot or research timelines;
  4. Reporting needs;
  5. Consent conditions;
  6. The need to resolve disputes or comply with legal duties.

When information is no longer required, Vorqela may delete, destroy, anonymise, or de-identify it securely.

14. International Data Transfers

Some third-party platforms, hosting providers, cloud systems, analytics tools, or communication tools used by Vorqela may process or store information outside South Africa.

Where this occurs, Vorqela will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information remains protected and that cross-border processing is lawful and appropriate.

15. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, users, parents, guardians, and data subjects may have the right to:

  1. Ask what personal information Vorqela holds about them or their child;
  2. Request access to personal information;
  3. Request correction of inaccurate information;
  4. Request deletion of information where legally applicable;
  5. Object to certain processing;
  6. Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  7. Ask questions about how information is used;
  8. Lodge a complaint if they believe personal information has been handled unlawfully.

Requests may be sent to info@vorqela.co.za.

16. Withdrawing Consent

Where Vorqela processes personal information based on consent, consent may be withdrawn by contacting Vorqela at info@vorqela.co.za.

Withdrawal of consent will apply to future processing where legally and practically possible. Some information may need to be retained where required for legal, audit, reporting, school, research, or operational purposes.

Where media has already been published, Vorqela will take reasonable steps to stop future use after consent is withdrawn, but may not be able to fully remove material already distributed, printed, published, shared, archived, or controlled by third parties.

17. Data Breaches

If Vorqela becomes aware of a suspected data breach involving personal information, Vorqela will take reasonable steps to contain the breach, assess the risk, investigate the incident, notify affected parties where required, notify authorities where legally required, and take corrective action.

18. Links to Other Websites

Vorqela's website or platform may contain links to third-party websites or services. Vorqela is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of third-party websites that it does not control.

19. Updates to This Privacy Policy

Vorqela may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updated versions may be published on the website or communicated through appropriate channels.

20. Contact Details

For privacy questions, consent questions, data access requests, or data protection concerns, contact:

Vorqela (Pty) Ltd
Email: info@vorqela.co.za
Website: www.vorqela.co.za
Internal Data Protection Lead: Tlotliso Kama