Privacy policy | The School of Options

Who we are

The School of Options is run by The School of Options Private Limited (“we”, “us”). We decide how your personal data is used, which makes us its data fiduciary under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. You can reach us at hello@theschoolofoptions.com.

What we collect

Your account: your phone number, which is how you sign in, and the first name you give us.
Admission: your name, phone number and email, your answers to the admission questions, and your consent.
Discovery: your answers to the learning questions and the path we recommend.
Learning: the lessons you open and finish, your quiz and assignment answers, notes, bookmarks, reviews and certificates.
Community: what you post, the images you add, your reactions and your public profile.
Payments: the amount, the status and a reference from our payment provider. Your card, UPI and bank details go to the payment provider, never to us.
Technical data: your IP address, browser and device type, and the times of your visits, which we use to keep accounts safe and to stop abuse.

Why we use it

To create your account, sign you in and keep it secure.
To understand where you are starting from and recommend a learning plan.
To give you your courses, live classes, progress, certificates and community.
To take payments, give refunds and keep the records the law requires.
To answer your questions and send the notices you ask for, such as class reminders.
To prevent fraud and abuse, and to fix problems with the site.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising.

Consent

The admission questions ask for your consent before they collect your contact details, and we use those details only for the purposes named there. You can withdraw your consent at any time by writing to hello@theschoolofoptions.com. We then stop using that data, except where the law requires us to keep it.

Cookies

We use only the cookies the site needs to work:

Sign-in cookies, which keep you signed in.
A visitor cookie, which keeps the answers you give before signing in linked to you, so they are not lost.
A cookie that remembers which version of our homepage you saw, for 30 days.

We use no advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

Analytics

We count visits and clicks to learn which parts of the site help people. These counts never include your answers, your name or your contact details.

Who we share it with

We share personal data only with the companies that help us run the school, and only what each one needs:

Google Cloud, which hosts the site and stores our data in India.
Razorpay, which processes payments and refunds.
An SMS provider, which sends your sign-in codes.

They act on our instructions and may not use your data for their own purposes. We also disclose data when the law, a court or a regulator requires it.

Where we keep it and how we protect it

Your data is stored on servers in India (Google Cloud, Mumbai). It travels over encrypted connections, sign-in codes are stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form, and only the staff who need your data can see it.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open, or for as long as we need it for the purpose you gave it for. When you ask us to delete it, we erase it, except what the law requires us to keep, such as payment and tax records.

Your rights

Under India’s data protection law you can:

See what personal data we hold about you and how we use it.
Correct or update it.
Ask us to erase it, or withdraw consent you gave.
Name someone to act for you if you die or cannot act yourself.
Complain to us, and then to the Data Protection Board of India.

Write to hello@theschoolofoptions.com and tell us the phone number on your account. We reply within 30 days.

Grievance officer

Kundan Kishore, Founder, The School of Options Private Limited. Write to hello@theschoolofoptions.com with “Grievance” in the subject. We acknowledge every grievance within 48 hours and resolve it within one month.

Children

Our courses are for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us their data, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we update the date at the top of this page. If a change affects how we use your data, we tell you before it applies.