Legal & Compliance

Privacy Policy

We take the privacy of our users — schools, teachers, students, and parents — seriously. This policy explains how STEAMhives collects, uses, and protects your data.

Effective: 1 June 2026Last Updated: 28 May 2026Applies to all STEAMhives users

This Privacy Policy applies to STEAMhives Excella RMS — our school result management platform — and all related services operated by STEAMhives Innovation Hub. By using our platform, you agree to the practices described here.

Section 1

Introduction

STEAMhives Innovation Hub (“STEAMhives”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates the Excella Result Management System (RMS) — a cloud-based platform designed to help Nigerian schools manage student results, generate report cards, and give parents secure access to academic records.

We are committed to protecting the personal data of every individual who interacts with our platform, including school administrators, teachers, students, and parents. This Privacy Policy describes the categories of information we collect, how we use and protect it, and the rights available to you.

If you have any questions about this policy or our data practices, please contact us at privacy@steamhives.ng.

Section 2

Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

2.1 Information Provided by Schools (Administrators)

  • School name, address, contact details, and logo
  • Administrator name, email address, and phone number
  • School type (primary, secondary, combined) and academic structure (sessions, terms, classes, subjects)
  • Subscription and billing information (processed securely by Paystack; we do not store card details)
  • Uploaded school stamp and authority signature images for report cards

2.2 Student Data (Entered by Schools)

  • Student full name, registration number, date of birth, and gender
  • Class, subjects, and academic results (scores, grades, positions)
  • Attendance records, affective and psychomotor domain ratings
  • Passport photograph (optional, uploaded by school)
  • Parent or guardian phone number (used for WhatsApp and SMS result notifications, where enabled by the school)
  • Carried-forward scores from previous terms (progressive scoring)

2.3 Teacher Data

  • Teacher name, email, and phone number
  • Assigned subjects and classes
  • Coupon codes used during onboarding

2.4 Automatically Collected Data

  • IP address, browser type, and device information (for security and analytics)
  • Session logs and access timestamps
  • Cookies and local storage preferences (see Section 8)

Note: STEAMhives does not collect any data from students directly. All student data is entered and managed by the subscribing school. Schools are responsible for ensuring they have appropriate consent to submit student data — including parent phone numbers — to our platform.

Section 3

How We Use Your Data

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To provide and improve the platform — processing results, generating PDF report cards, managing PIN access for parents
  • Account management — creating and managing school, teacher, and admin accounts
  • Communications — sending service updates, subscription reminders, and support responses via email, WhatsApp, or SMS
  • Result notifications — sending parents and guardians their child's result summary and report card access link via WhatsApp or SMS, when this feature is enabled by the school
  • Security — detecting fraud, preventing unauthorized access, and protecting user accounts
  • Analytics — understanding platform usage to improve features (aggregated and anonymized where possible)
  • Legal compliance — fulfilling our obligations under applicable Nigerian law

We do not sell personal data to third parties. We do not use student data for advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to the educational services we provide.

Section 4

WhatsApp & SMS Communications

STEAMhives uses WhatsApp and SMS to deliver important communications on behalf of schools. This section explains exactly what we send, when we send it, and your rights regarding these messages.

4.1 What We Send

  • Result notifications — when a school publishes student results for a term, we may send the parent or guardian a message containing the student's result summary and a secure PIN link to access the full report card
  • School announcements — schools may use our platform to send general announcements, fee reminders, or event notices to parents via WhatsApp or SMS
  • Platform alerts — we may send account-related messages to school administrators (e.g., subscription renewal reminders, security alerts) via WhatsApp

4.2 Who We Send To

We only send WhatsApp and SMS messages to phone numbers that have been entered into the platform by a subscribing school. We do not source phone numbers independently. The school is responsible for ensuring that all phone numbers submitted to the platform belong to individuals who have consented to receive messages relating to their child's academic records.

4.3 Message Provider

WhatsApp messages are delivered via the WhatsApp Business API. SMS messages are delivered through a licensed telecommunications messaging provider. These providers process phone numbers solely for message delivery and are bound by confidentiality agreements. We do not share phone numbers with them beyond what is necessary to transmit the message.

4.4 Opting Out

Recipients who no longer wish to receive WhatsApp notifications from STEAMhives can reply STOP to any message. SMS recipients can reply STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE. Schools can also disable the WhatsApp/SMS notification feature for their account at any time from their school settings.

Important: STEAMhives does not send unsolicited marketing messages to parents, students, or teachers. All WhatsApp and SMS communications are transactional — they relate directly to academic records or school services provided through the platform.

4.5 Message Costs

Standard data charges from the recipient's mobile carrier may apply to incoming WhatsApp messages. STEAMhives is not responsible for any carrier charges incurred by recipients.

Section 5

Data Sharing

We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

  • With service providers — we use trusted third-party providers to operate our platform, including Vercel (hosting), Neon or Supabase (database hosting), Paystack (payment processing), and WhatsApp Business API / SMS gateway providers (message delivery). These providers are contractually bound to protect your data.
  • Within your school — school administrators can view all data entered for their school. Teachers can only access data for their assigned classes and subjects.
  • With parents/guardians (via PIN) — parents access student result cards using a secure 8-digit PIN generated by the school. No account creation is required.
  • Via WhatsApp or SMS — result summaries and report card links are shared with parent phone numbers entered by the school, when the school enables this feature.
  • Legal obligations — we may disclose data if required to do so by law, court order, or regulatory authority in Nigeria.

We will never share student data with third parties for commercial, marketing, or research purposes without explicit written consent from the subscribing school.

Section 6

Data Storage & Security

Your data is stored on secure, encrypted servers. We implement the following safeguards:

  • All data is transmitted over HTTPS (TLS encryption)
  • Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms; we never store plaintext passwords
  • Database access is restricted by role-based permissions
  • Admin and teacher sessions use secure, HTTP-only cookies with expiration controls
  • PIN-based result access uses one-time, hashed tokens
  • Phone numbers used for WhatsApp and SMS delivery are stored encrypted and are only accessed at the point of message dispatch
  • Regular automated backups are taken to prevent data loss

While we take all reasonable precautions, no system is 100% secure. We encourage schools to use strong passwords and report any suspected security incidents to security@steamhives.ng immediately.

Section 7

Children's Privacy

STEAMhives Excella RMS is a B2B platform contracted directly with schools. Students do not create accounts or interact directly with our platform. Student data is submitted exclusively by school administrators and teachers.

Schools using our platform are responsible for:

  • Obtaining appropriate consent from parents/guardians before submitting student data
  • Ensuring parent phone numbers are submitted with the knowledge and consent of the parent or guardian, particularly where WhatsApp or SMS result delivery is enabled
  • Complying with any applicable local or national child data protection regulations
  • Ensuring student passport photographs are submitted with the consent of the student's parent or guardian

If you believe that student data has been submitted to our platform without proper consent, please contact us at privacy@steamhives.ng and we will investigate promptly.

Section 8

Cookies

We use the following types of cookies and local storage:

  • Session cookies — required for secure login and maintaining your authenticated session. These expire when you log out or close your browser.
  • Preference storage — we store your theme preference (light/dark mode) in browser local storage. This is not transmitted to our servers.
  • Analytics — we may use privacy-respecting analytics tools to understand platform usage patterns. No personally identifiable information is included.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking pixels. You can clear your browser cookies at any time through your browser settings; however, this will log you out of your session.

Section 9

Your Rights

Depending on your role, you have the following rights with respect to your data:

  • Access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you or your school
  • Correction — you may update or correct your account information at any time from your settings page
  • Deletion — you may request deletion of your account and associated data. Note: deleting a school account will permanently remove all student results associated with it.
  • Portability — you may export your student result data at any time using the broadsheet export feature
  • Opt-out of messaging — you may opt out of WhatsApp or SMS notifications at any time by replying STOP to any message, or by contacting us directly
  • Objection — you may object to any data processing you believe is not justified

To exercise any of these rights, please email privacy@steamhives.ng with your request. We will respond within 14 business days.

Section 10

Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your school subscription is active. Specifically:

  • Active subscriptions — all data is retained for the duration of the subscription
  • Expired/cancelled subscriptions — data is retained for 90 days after expiry to allow for reinstatement. After 90 days, data may be permanently deleted.
  • Deletion requests — data is deleted within 30 days of a confirmed deletion request
  • WhatsApp/SMS message logs — delivery logs (timestamp, status) are retained for up to 12 months for support and dispute resolution purposes. Message content is not stored on our servers after delivery.
  • Legal holds — in certain circumstances (e.g., dispute resolution), we may be required to retain data for longer periods

We encourage schools to export their result data regularly using the built-in export feature as a safeguard.

Section 11

Third-Party Links

Our platform may contain links to external websites (e.g., Paystack for payments, or WhatsApp for support). This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external sites.

Section 12

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make significant changes, we will:

  • Update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page
  • Display a notice within the platform dashboard for subscribed schools
  • Send an email notification to the primary administrator of each school account

Your continued use of the STEAMhives platform after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. If you do not agree with changes, you may close your account.

Section 13

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please reach out to us:

  • Email: privacy@steamhives.ng
  • Security issues: security@steamhives.ng
  • WhatsApp: +234 912 384 5614
  • Address: STEAMhives Innovation Hub, Lagos, Nigeria

Still have questions about your data?

Our team is happy to answer any privacy-related questions. Reach out and we'll respond within 14 business days.

privacy@steamhives.ng