Plain-language commitment. This document is written to help learners, parents, teachers and school administrators understand the rules without specialist legal knowledge.
1. Overview
The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) operates MBSSE LMIS to support teaching, learning, assessment, communication and education administration in Sierra Leone. This policy explains what personal information the platform handles, why it is needed, who may access it and the choices available to users.
This policy applies to learners, parents and guardians, teachers, school leaders, administrators, auditors, support personnel and visitors who use the LMIS website or mobile application. MBSSE is responsible for deciding how personal information is used. Schools and approved service providers handle information only for authorised education and platform purposes.
MBSSE LMIS does not sell personal information, use learner information for commercial advertising or permit unauthorised profiling of children.
2. Information we collect
We collect only information reasonably needed to provide and protect the platform, including:
- Account and identity information: name, username, email address, telephone number, profile image, school identifier, role, date of birth or age band, and verification status.
- School and enrolment information: school, district, class, grade level, subjects, teacher assignments, parent or guardian links, and academic period.
- Learning and assessment information: materials viewed, work submitted, quiz attempts, answers, grades, feedback, attendance, completion, badges and progress.
- Communication information: forum posts, messages, group membership, announcements, support requests and notification preferences.
- Files and media: documents, audio, video, images and recordings uploaded by authorised users. A live-class recording is stored only when the organiser records it and uploads or connects it to the LMIS.
- Technical and security information: sign-in time, IP address, device and browser information, audit events, security alerts and diagnostic logs.
Information may come from you, your parent or guardian, your school, an authorised MBSSE administrator, a connected identity provider, or your activity while using the service.
3. How we use information
MBSSE uses personal information to:
- create and secure accounts and verify authorised teachers and administrators;
- enrol learners in the correct subjects and make approved curriculum materials available;
- deliver lessons, assignments, quizzes, live classes, recorded teaching and feedback;
- calculate grades, progress, attendance, completion, badges and reports;
- allow parents or guardians to view information for children formally linked to them;
- communicate deadlines, announcements, safety notices and support responses;
- monitor service performance, prevent misuse, investigate incidents and maintain backups; and
- meet education, safeguarding, audit and other legal or public-service responsibilities.
Automated quiz marking may be used for objective questions. Important academic or disciplinary decisions should remain subject to review by an authorised teacher or administrator.
4. Children and learners
MBSSE LMIS is designed for school-age learners. We apply data minimisation, role-based access and safeguarding controls appropriate to an education service. Learner accounts should be created or authorised through the relevant school, MBSSE process, or an approved self-enrolment process.
Parents and guardians may access only a learner who has been formally linked to their account. Teachers may access learner information only for the subjects, classes and responsibilities assigned to them. Users should not place unnecessary sensitive information in messages, forums, assignments or profile fields.
Where consent is required for a child, it must be provided through the applicable school and parent or guardian process. A parent or guardian may contact the school or MBSSE to ask about a child's information, subject to identity checks and education-record obligations.
5. Sharing and service providers
Personal information is available only to people and organisations that need it for an authorised purpose. This may include:
- MBSSE, authorised schools, verified teachers and appropriately linked parents or guardians;
- UNOPS personnel providing authorised implementation support;
- Korlie Limited personnel providing authorised development, maintenance and technical support under MBSSE instructions;
- approved hosting, backup, identity, messaging, plagiarism-checking, analytics and security providers; and
- approved live-class providers such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet when a school enables that integration.
Connected services have their own privacy terms. The LMIS shares only the information needed for the requested feature. We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect a child or another person, to investigate misuse, or to protect the platform and public interest.
If authorised processing or storage occurs outside Sierra Leone, MBSSE will require appropriate contractual, access and security safeguards.
6. Retention and security
We retain information for as long as it is needed for education delivery, official records, safeguarding, audit, dispute resolution, security and legal obligations. Retention periods may differ by record type. When information is no longer required, it is deleted or de-identified through an approved process. Backup copies expire according to the backup schedule and may not disappear immediately from every recovery copy.
The platform uses safeguards appropriate to the risk, including encrypted connections, password protection, role-based permissions, privileged-access controls, audit logs, backups, software updates, monitoring and incident response. Users are responsible for protecting their password, signing out of shared devices and reporting suspicious activity. No internet service can guarantee absolute security.
7. Your privacy rights
Subject to applicable law and official education-record requirements, you may ask to:
- access personal information held about you;
- correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- object to or request restriction of a particular use;
- delete information that MBSSE is not required to retain;
- receive an available copy of information you provided; or
- withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
Some academic, assessment, attendance, safeguarding, audit and disciplinary records cannot be changed or deleted merely on request. We may need to verify your identity and authority before responding. A learner's request may need to be handled with their school or parent or guardian.
8. Cookies, notifications and analytics
The web platform uses essential cookies for sign-in, security, session continuity and saved preferences. It may use limited operational analytics to understand performance, errors and feature use. MBSSE LMIS does not use behavioural advertising cookies.
You can control non-essential cookies through your browser where offered. Blocking essential cookies may prevent sign-in or other core functions. Mobile notifications can be changed in the LMIS notification settings and in the device settings.
9. Changes to this policy
MBSSE may update this policy when the platform, law or operational arrangements change. The revised policy will show a new effective date. Material changes may also be announced in the platform. Continued use after a change means the service will handle information under the current published policy, subject to any consent required by law.
10. Contact us
For a privacy question, correction request or concern, use the LMIS support channel or contact:
Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education
New England Ville, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Email: info@mbsse.gov.sl
Telephone: +232 78 570129
Website: mbsse.gov.sl/contact-us
Please do not send passwords, examination answers or unnecessary sensitive personal information by email. Privacy complaints will be reviewed through the appropriate MBSSE governance process.