Sayansia ("we", "us") runs a virtual practical bench and past-paper marking service for IGCSE, A-Level and CBC science, and a physical lab in Nairobi. This page explains what we collect from a school, a teacher, a student or an individual user, why, and what you can do about it.
We are the same company either way, but two roles matter for how this policy applies. If your account was created because your school invited you, your school is usually the one who decides what happens to your account (see Schools and students). If you asked us directly through the request form, you deal with us directly.
What we collect
Account and profile information. Name, email address, account role (student, teacher, school admin, or Sayansia staff) and which school you belong to, if any. For a request through the sign-up form, also whatever you put in it — organisation, phone number, and any note.
Coursework and practical results. The classes you're in, the work your teacher sets, and your attempts at it: answers, scores, and — for a bench simulator — the readings you record and how far through a practical you've got, so you can pick up where you left off. Marks are computed by our marking engine against the published scheme; a teacher can also reopen or review your attempt.
Physical lab bookings. If you book bench time at the Nairobi lab: the date, time and experiment, and the price you were quoted.
Sign-in. Your password is never stored by us — Supabase, our authentication provider, holds it hashed. If you sign in with Google, we receive the name and email address on your Google account, and nothing else.
Technical data. Standard request logs kept by our hosting provider (IP address, timestamp, page requested), and one cookie that holds your sign-in session.
Analytics. We use Google Analytics, on every page — including inside the app once you're signed in. It sees which pages are opened, how long a visit lasts, and broad device and location information (Google Analytics doesn't retain full IP addresses). It never sees your name, email, or anything you've typed — we don't link it to your Sayansia account or profile. We keep Google Signals and ad personalization switched off for this property, so it isn't used to build an advertising profile of you or to follow you across other sites. Full detail, including every cookie by name, is in our Cookie Policy.
We don't collect payment card details ourselves — see Payments.
What we use it for
- Running your account: signing you in, showing you the right school's classes and work.
- Marking your attempts and showing you and your teacher the results.
- Sending account emails — an invite, a password reset, a confirmation. Nothing marketing.
- Running the request queue at /signup, so staff can review and approve it.
- Keeping the service secure and working — abuse prevention, debugging, capacity planning.
We don't sell personal data, and we don't use your coursework or results to train any model or product outside Sayansia.
Who we share it with
We use a small number of providers to run the service. Each only sees what it needs to do its job, under its own privacy commitments, and none may use your data for its own purposes:
- Supabase — our database and authentication provider. Holds every table this policy describes.
- Vercel — hosts the application and serves every page you load.
- Resend — sends transactional email (invites, password resets). Only sees your email address and the message content.
- Google (sign-in) — only if you choose to sign in with Google.
- Google (analytics) — sees anonymised usage data from every visit; never your name, email or coursework. See our Cookie Policy.
A school's staff (teachers, its school admin) can see the students and classes inside their own school — never another school's. Sayansia staff can see across schools where needed to run the platform. Both are enforced in the database itself, not just in the app.
We disclose information beyond this only if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a user — most relevantly, a child.
Schools and students
Most people on Sayansia are school students, and many are minors. When a school invites a student, that school is responsible for having whatever consent it needs — from a parent, guardian, or under its own enrolment terms — to give the student's name and email address to a service like ours. We act on the school's instructions for that student's account: a parent or student asking us to change or delete data tied to a school account should start with the school, which can also reach us directly.
An individual account approved from a request — a private tutor, a parent, a student with no school on the platform — is different: there, you deal with us directly, and the rights below are exercised the normal way, by emailing us.
How long we keep it
For as long as the account is active, plus a reasonable period afterwards in case a school or student needs their history restored. If a school closes or a student leaves, we keep academic records long enough to be useful for a reference or an appeal, then delete them. Ask and we'll tell you what we currently hold and when it's due to go.
Security
Every table is protected by row-level security in the database itself — a bug in the application layer isn't the only thing standing between a student and another school's results, because Postgres checks the same rule again independently. Data is encrypted in transit. Staff access to the underlying database is limited to what's needed to run the platform.
Your rights
Under Kenya's Data Protection Act, 2019 — and, broadly, similar laws elsewhere — you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal data we hold about you;
- correct it, if it's wrong;
- delete it, subject to the schools note above and to records we're required to keep;
- stop a particular use of it, or object to it.
Email info@sayansia.com to ask. If you're a student on a school account, it's usually faster to start with your school — but you can reach us directly either way. You can also complain to Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner if you think we've got this wrong.
Where data is processed
Our providers run infrastructure outside Kenya as well as within it. Wherever your data is processed, it's protected to the standard this policy describes.
Cookies
One cookie keeps you signed in — the app doesn't work without it. Google Analytics sets a couple more, on every visit. The full list, by name, with what each is for and how long it lasts, is in our dedicated Cookie Policy.
Payments
Sayansia doesn't yet take card payments online. Schools are invoiced directly, and lab bookings are settled at the Nairobi lab. When online card payment is added, this section will name the payment processor and be updated before it goes live — we never store card details ourselves.
Changes to this policy
If we materially change what we collect or why, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where the change is significant, tell schools and account holders directly.
Contact
Questions, requests, or a concern about how a student's data is handled: info@sayansia.com or 0769 689 499. See also our Terms of Service.