Have you heard of the POPI Act? How does POPI affect ECD centres?
POPIA stands for the Protection of Personal Information Act and this is South Africa’s data protection law.
The law aims to protect adults and children from harm by protecting their personal information.
It applies to all organisations and people in South Africa, including preschools.
🍎Have your parents signed a Protection of Personal Information Consent Form with your centre?
🍎Have your staff signed a Contract for Confidentiality, Data privacy and Protection?
Top Tips for ECD Centres and Preschools when it comes to POPI compliance:
- Use a learner enrolment form* that includes a POPI consent section.
- Ask parents/caregivers to sign a Protection of Personal Information Parent Consent Form*.
- Host an information session with employees about POPI to discuss the requirements, and how you will keep personal information safe and how you will manage confidentiality and special personal information.
- For all employees, use a Contract of Employment* that covers data privacy.
- Review how you process personal information to ensure you comply with POPI. Ask yourself “what practical things can I put in place to protect personal information?” (For example, are paper-based forms kept in a secure location? Who has access to this? Who has access to your personnel’s information and it is safe? Is all your online information stored securely and password protected?)
- Never share your phone, laptop or any app passwords with anyone. Use a unique strong password for every app or tool (don’t use one password for everything).
- Think about how long you really need what information for. Delete and destroy the personal information of learners, caregivers and staff when you no longer need it.
*All forms and templates are downloadable from our ECD app for free.
Need more guidelines and an overview of the POPI Acts for ECD Centres?
This short article is by no means a comprehensive overview of the POPI act or its requirements.
For more details, please review the “Protection of Personal Information POPI Act and your ECD Centre” guide prepared by GROW Educare Centres. This PDF document is available as easy download, free on our app.