Privacy policy and terms

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Privacy policy

Engkhula respects your privacy and handles your personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have.

What we collect

• Your name, email address and cell number.
• Your school, college or university, and the modules you study.
• Assignments, drafts and questions you send us for help.
• Payment records, such as your plan and payment dates. Card and bank details are handled by our payment provider, not stored by us.

Why we collect it

• To give you the support in your plan, such as adding you to our WhatsApp community, sending Microsoft Teams invites, answering your emails, and matching you with a tutor.
• To manage your subscription and payments.
• To send you new study notes, but only if you asked us to. You can unsubscribe at any time.

The Study Assistant

When you use the Study Assistant, we store your account details, your settings, the dates, contacts, topics and rules taken from documents you upload, your study plan, and your last 20 chat messages. Documents are read on your own device; only their text is sent for processing, and the files themselves are not stored. The text of your documents and your questions is processed by an AI model through Netlify's AI Gateway, which does not keep your prompts or the answers. Your data is stored on Netlify's servers, which may be outside South Africa. Reminder emails are sent from hello@engkhula.co.za, and you can switch them off in Settings at any time.

Who can see it

Only the Engkhula team members who support you. Your assignments are seen only by your tutor or the team member helping you. In our WhatsApp community, other members cannot see your number. We don't sell or share your information with anyone else, except service providers we need to run Engkhula (such as our payment provider, email host, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams), or where the law requires it.

Live Q&A recordings

Q&A sessions are recorded and shared with Tier 2 and Tier 3 members. If you don't want to appear in a recording, keep your camera off and send your questions in the chat, and we'll read them out without your name.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while you are a member and for up to 12 months afterwards, unless the law requires us to keep it longer (for example, payment records for tax purposes). Assignments you send us are deleted within 6 months after your membership ends.

Your rights

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Email hello@engkhula.co.za and we'll respond within 30 days. If you're unhappy with how we handled your request, you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.

Information officer

[Owner's full name], hello@engkhula.co.za

Terms of service

Academic honesty

Engkhula explains, guides and comments on your work. We do not write assignments, essays or exam answers for you, and we won't help with anything that breaks your institution's rules. The work you submit must be your own. We may end a membership without a refund if it is used to get work written for submission.

Plans and what's included

• Tier 1, WhatsApp community (R89 per month): access to our WhatsApp community for questions and study information. New members get their first week free.
• Tier 2, Email and live Q&A (R299 per month): everything in Tier 1, email support with replies within 48 hours on weekdays, a live Q&A session on Microsoft Teams every second week, and session recordings.
• Tier 3, Personal tutor (R599 per month): everything in Tier 2, a personal tutor, comments on up to 2 assignments a month, a personalised study plan each semester, and a 30-minute check-in call each month.

Unused assignment reviews and calls don't carry over to the next month. Public holidays and the December break may affect reply times and session dates, and we'll let you know in advance.

Study Assistant

The Engkhula Study Assistant costs R45 per month after a 7-day free trial. It's paid by monthly subscription through PayFast and continues until you cancel. It includes up to 20 questions a day and 6 document uploads a month. The assistant helps you plan, organise and understand your work; it does not write, rewrite or mark assignments. AI answers can be wrong, so always check important information, especially dates, against your official module material. If you cancel, you keep access until the end of the month you've paid for.

Payment

Monthly plans are paid in advance and renew automatically each month until you cancel. Semester plans are paid once for 5 months at the price of 4, and don't renew automatically. Prices include any applicable taxes and may change with 30 days' notice.

Changing plans and cancelling

Email hello@engkhula.co.za before your next payment date to change plans or cancel. Changes take effect from your next billing date. There are no cancellation fees. Payments for the current month are not refunded, and semester plans are refundable only within the first 7 days if you haven't used any tutor services.

Community rules

Be respectful in the WhatsApp community and live sessions. No sharing of other people's work, spam, or offensive messages. We may remove members who break these rules.

Our study material

Our notes, study plans and recordings are for your personal study. Please don't resell or publish them.