Privacy Policy

MatriPath ("MatriPath," "we," "us") is an independent educational platform for South African Grade 11 and 12 learners. This policy explains what information we collect when you use the platform, why we collect it, and the choices you have. MatriPath is not officially owned, operated, endorsed, or sponsored by any university, including the University of the Witwatersrand.

We collect information you give us directly, and information created by using the platform.

Account information

When you register, we collect your name, email address, and password (stored as a one-way hash — we never store your actual password). Learners provide their grade. Tutors and mentors additionally provide their university, degree, a short bio, subjects or focus areas, and — optionally — an hourly rate.

Booking information

When a learner requests a tutoring or mentorship session, we collect the subject or topic, a preferred date and time, whether the session is online or in person, and any message included with the request. This is shared with the relevant tutor or mentor so they can respond to the request.

MatriPath AI conversations

Messages you send to MatriPath AI are processed by Anthropic, our AI provider, in order to generate a response. We don't use these conversations to train AI models, and conversations aren't saved to your account between sessions — each conversation exists only in your browser for the length of that session.

Usage and progress information

To show your own progress back to you (subjects studied, lessons completed, questions practised, recently viewed content), we record which videos and past papers you view or complete, and self-reported outcomes when you practise past paper questions.

• To create and manage your account, and to let you sign in.
• To operate the tutor and mentor marketplace — showing tutor/mentor profiles to learners, and booking requests to tutors/mentors.
• To respond to your messages sent to MatriPath AI.
• To show you your own progress and activity on the platform.
• To send account-related emails — verifying your email address, and password reset links you request.
• To keep the platform secure, including detecting and limiting abuse (for example, automated login attempts).

We don't sell your information. We share it only where necessary to operate the platform:

• Other users, where relevant to the marketplace. A tutor or mentor's public profile (name, university, degree, bio, subjects, rate) is visible to any visitor. Booking details are shared only between the learner and the specific tutor or mentor involved.
• Anthropic, to process messages sent to MatriPath AI.
• Resend, our email provider, to deliver verification and password reset emails.
• Our hosting and database providers, who store the platform's data on our behalf and don't use it for any purpose of their own.
• Where required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of MatriPath or our users.

Most MatriPath learners are minors under South African law (under 18). We collect only the information described above, and only what's needed to provide the platform's features. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with information you'd like removed, contact us using the details below and we will address it.

Passwords are stored using industry-standard one-way hashing, never in plain text. We rate-limit login and account-creation attempts to reduce automated abuse, and access to personal data within our systems is restricted to what's needed to operate the platform. No system is completely secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security of information transmitted over the internet.

Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, request that we correct inaccurate information, request deletion of your information (subject to any legal obligation we have to retain it), and object to certain uses of your information. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.

We use a single session cookie to keep you signed in. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, and MatriPath doesn't carry third-party advertising.

MatriPath links out to external sites we don't control — past paper sources (e.g. the Department of Basic Education), university websites, and similar. This policy doesn't cover those sites; their own privacy policies apply.

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of MatriPath after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Questions about this policy, or requests relating to your information, can be sent to privacy@matripath.co.za.