Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April 12, 2025

At Ikigai School, accessible from https://ikigaischools.com/, protecting your privacy is one of our top priorities. This Privacy Policy outlines what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

1. Data Policy (Privacy Policy)

This Data Policy explains how Ikigai Schools collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information of users. We deeply value your privacy and strive to protect your personal data in compliance with applicable data protection laws in India (including the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules thereunder, as well as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023) and in line with international best practices (such as transparency and user consent principles). By using the Site or providing information to us, you consent to the collection and use of information as outlined in this section.

1.1 Introduction to Our Data Practices

We collect personal information only as necessary to provide our services and to enhance your experience on our Site. Any personal data you share with us will be handled lawfully and fairly. We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties, and we use it only as described in this policy. We maintain transparency about our data practices and aim to give you control over your personal data.

Scope: This Data Policy applies to information we collect through our website (ikigai schools domain) and related online services. It does not cover any information you provide to third-party websites or services which may be linked to our Site (those are governed by their own privacy policies).

1.2 Information Collection

What Information We Collect: Ikigai Schools may collect both personally identifiable information ("Personal Data") and non-personal information from you. The information we collect falls into several categories:

• Contact or Registration Information: If you fill out forms (such as inquiry forms, contact forms, event registration, or account signup), we may ask for your name, email address, phone number, postal address, student or parent name (if applicable), and any other details relevant to your inquiry or registration.
• Communication Content: If you contact us directly (via email, contact form, or phone), we will receive the content of your message and any additional information you choose to provide (such as questions, feedback, or other details).
• Subscription/Marketing Information: If you subscribe to newsletters or marketing communications, we will collect your email address and any preferences you express (for example, topics of interest). We may also record your consent to receive such communications.
• Application/Enrollment Data: (If applicable) In the context of school admissions or program enrollment, we might collect details such as date of birth (for age verification), academic history, or other relevant personal and educational information. (Note: This applies if the Site allows applications for school programs.)

1.3 Use of Information

How We Use the Collected Information: Ikigai Schools uses your information to operate our Site, provide our services, communicate with you, and improve our offerings. The main purposes for which we use personal data include:

• Providing and Improving Services: We use your information to deliver the services or information you request. For example, if you inquire about admissions or a program, we will use your contact details to respond and provide guidance. If you register for an event or newsletter, we use the data to fulfill those requests. We also analyze Usage Data (often via tools like Google Analytics) to understand how our Site is used, which helps us troubleshoot problems, optimize user experience, and improve site content and navigation.
• Communication: Your contact information (email, phone number) may be used to communicate with you.
  • Transactional or Service Communications: We may send confirmations, responses to inquiries, updates on a service you requested, or notifications about your account or changes to our Site or policies. These are not promotional in nature but rather essential to fulfilling our relationship (for example, confirming receipt of your application or alerting you to important changes in terms or policies).
  • Promotional Communications: With your consent or as otherwise permitted by law, we may use your email or phone number to send you newsletters, marketing emails or SMS, and updates about new courses, programs, events, special offers, or other news about Ikigai Schools that we think you may find interesting. We strive to send communications that are relevant and helpful, and you will always have the option to opt out of marketing messages (see User Rights below for how to manage preferences).
• Internal Record-Keeping and Administration: We may use personal data for internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, system maintenance, and troubleshooting. For instance, we may keep logs of support requests to ensure we respond properly and to improve our customer service processes.
• Personalization: To the extent permitted, we might use data to personalize your experience on our Site. For example, remembering your preferences (if you allowed cookies, we might remember language settings or display customized content). We may also use browsing data to suggest content that might be relevant to you on future visits.
• Advertising and Analytics: We use third-party analytics and advertising tools to understand user behavior and reach people who might be interested in Ikigai Schools. Data collected through cookies/pixels (like Google Analytics and Meta Pixel) helps us measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns (for example, seeing how many people who clicked an ad later filled out a form). It also helps with "retargeting" – showing ads to people who have visited our Site before. This data is generally aggregated and does not directly identify you by name, but it does use identifiers like cookies or device IDs. Any advertising use of data will be done in accordance with law and with appropriate consent where required.
• Security and Fraud Prevention: We may use information (especially usage patterns and technical data) to monitor for suspicious or fraudulent activity and to detect, prevent, and respond to potential security incidents. For example, analyzing logs for unusual login attempts or verifying identity to guard against unauthorized access.
• Legal Compliance and Protection of Rights: If we are required by law to collect and/or provide certain information (for example, responding to a court order or legal request), we will use data as needed to comply. Additionally, we may process personal data to enforce our Terms of Use, to investigate or defend against legal claims, and to protect the rights, property, and safety of Ikigai Schools, our users, staff, students, or the public. This might include using information to pursue remedies or limit damages in the event of a dispute, or to address reports of misconduct.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes it was collected for (or purposes that are compatible with the original reason). If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated new purpose, we will notify you and obtain your consent where required. We may anonymize or aggregate personal data so that you are not identified, and use that data for analysis, research, and enhancement of our services without further notice.

1.4 Data Sharing and Disclosure

How We Share Information: Ikigai Schools understands the importance of keeping your personal information confidential. We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We only share your information in the following circumstances:

• With Service Providers and Partners: We may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers who perform functions and services to us (as "data processors" or similar, under our instructions). Examples include:
  • Website Hosting and Infrastructure: Companies that provide hosting for our website, data storage, database management, domain management (e.g., our website might be hosted on a third-party server service, and our domain might be managed by a registrar). These providers may necessarily process user data (including IP addresses and other technical data) to operate the site.
  • Analytics Services: As mentioned, we use Google Analytics (provided by Google) to analyze website usage. Google acts as a service provider in this case, processing data on our behalf to tell us how our site is used. We have enabled settings to anonymize IP addresses where possible, and we rely on Google’s policies to safeguard that information. We also use Meta Pixel (from Meta/Facebook) for analytics and advertising; data collected via that pixel may be shared with Meta to provide us with advertising insights.
  • Email and Communication Tools: If we send emails or newsletters, we might use an email delivery service (such as MailChimp, SendGrid, or similar) to manage our mailing lists and send messages. These services would process your email address and name for the purpose of sending communications on our behalf.
  • Payment or E-commerce Providers: (If applicable) Should our Site offer paid services or products (for example, application fees or merchandise), we might use third-party payment gateways (like Razorpay, PayPal, etc.) to handle transactions securely. These third parties would receive your payment details to process transactions, and they have their own legal obligations to protect your information.
  • Other Tools: We might also use customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, form builders (like Google Forms or Typeform if used for applications), or event management platforms. In all cases, we share only the data necessary for those providers to perform their function, and we require them to protect your information and use it only for our specified purposes.
• Within Our Organization and Affiliates: Personal information may be shared within Ikigai Schools and with any affiliated entities (for instance, if Ikigai Schools is part of a larger educational group or has sister institutions under Ikigaii Education Services). Such sharing is done on a need-to-know basis and under this Data Policy’s protections. For example, if a sister school or a partner institution helps in processing admissions, they would adhere to the same standards of confidentiality
• For Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to a valid legal request by public authorities (e.g., a subpoena, court order, or government demand). We will also share information when necessary to enforce our legal rights or defend against legal claims, and to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities (such as fraud), or potential threats to the physical safety of any person.
• Business Transfers: In the event that Ikigai Schools or Ikigaii Education Services undergoes a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, reorganization, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, user information (including personal data) might be among the assets transferred. We will ensure that any such transfer of data is done in accordance with applicable data protection laws, and we will provide notice on our Site if your data becomes subject to a new privacy policy due to a change in ownership or structure.
• With Consent: Apart from the cases listed above, we will seek your explicit consent before sharing your personal data with third parties for purposes not covered by this Data Policy. For instance, if we ever want to publish a testimonial with your name or share your contact with a partner for their direct marketing, we would only do so if you have agreed.

Third-Party Privacy: Whenever we share data with service providers or third parties, we take reasonable steps to ensure that they commit to protecting your privacy. However, note that if you leave our Site by clicking a third-party link or if you directly provide information to a third-party (for example, through an embedded content or external page), that information is governed by the third party’s own privacy policy. We are not responsible for how third parties use information if it’s collected through your direct interaction with them (see also Section 6.4 and 8.3 regarding third-party links). We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you access.

International Data Transfers: The third-party services we use and our own operations may involve transferring your personal data to servers located in countries other than your own. For example, if you are in India, some data might be processed or stored on servers in the United States or Europe (because our service providers like Google or Meta have servers globally). We will ensure that such cross-border data transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards. By using our Site or submitting your information, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries which might have different data protection rules than your country, but we will take measures to ensure your data is protected in line with this policy and applicable law.

1.5 Data Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously. Ikigai Schools implements reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. These security measures include, but are not limited to: use of secure servers, encryption of data in transit (e.g., HTTPS on our website), regular software updates and security patching, firewalls and intrusion detection systems, and restricted access to personal data by our staff on a need-to-know basis.

While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security of your data. You share and transmit information at your own risk. It is important for you as a user to also play a role in keeping your data secure: please choose strong passwords if you create an account and keep your login credentials confidential, and notify us immediately if you suspect any unauthorized access to your account or personal data.

In the unfortunate event of a data breach or security incident, we have procedures in place to promptly address and mitigate the issue. If a breach is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms (for example, a risk of identity theft or fraud), we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law, and advise you on steps to protect yourself.

1.6 User Rights and Control over Data

We believe you should have control over your personal data. Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights regarding the information we hold about you:

• Right to Access: You have the right to request information about whether we hold personal data about you and, if so, to obtain a copy of that information, including details of what we have, why we have it, how we use it, and who we share it with.
• Right to Rectification: If any of your personal data that we have is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have it corrected or updated. You can contact us to request corrections, or in some cases, update your information (such as contact details) by yourself if you have an account/profile on the Site.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: If we are processing your personal data based on your consent (for example, you consented to receive marketing emails), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, and it may take a short time to ensure all systems reflect your request. For example, if you no longer wish to receive promotional emails, you can click the "unsubscribe" link in those emails or contact us to be removed from our marketing list.
• Right to Deletion (Right to Erasure): You may request that we delete your personal data if it is no longer necessary for the purposes collected, or if you have withdrawn consent or objected to processing (and no other lawful basis exists for us to continue processing), or if we have processed the data unlawfully. Please note that we may need to retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (for instance, records of transactions or communications may be kept to comply with legal obligations or to resolve disputes). If complete deletion is not possible (e.g., because the data is stored in backups), we will take steps to securely isolate the data from further use until deletion is possible.
• Right to Object or Restrict Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. For example, you may object to processing for direct marketing or to any processing based on our legitimate interests (if you believe your rights override our interests). You also have the right to request that we temporarily restrict processing of your data (for example, while you contest the accuracy of the data or the lawfulness of our processing).
• Right to Data Portability: To the extent provided by law, if we process your personal data based on your consent or on a contract with you, and the processing is carried out by automated means, you can request to receive your personal data that you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that data to another data controller where feasible.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: If you have a concern about our privacy practices, we encourage you to contact us directly so we can address it (see Section 7 for contact details). However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority. In India, this would be the Data Protection Board (once established under the DPDP Act 2023) or any designated grievance redressal agency under applicable law. If you reside in another country, you may contact your local data protection regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, please reach out to us via the contact information provided in Section 7.1 (Grievance Redressal Mechanism) or 7.2 (Contact Information). For security purposes, we may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests (for example, requests to access or delete personal data) to ensure that we do not disclose data to an unauthorized person. We will respond to valid requests within the timeframe required by law (for instance, under some regulations we aim to respond within 30 days). There is no fee for making such requests, but excessive or unfounded requests may incur a reasonable fee as permitted by law

Please note that these rights are subject to certain exceptions and limitations. In some cases, we may legally refuse requests (for example, if fulfilling a request would violate another person's privacy or if you request deletion of data that we are legally required to keep). We will explain the rationale if we decline any request.

1.7 Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of minors is extremely important to us, especially since our services are related to education. Ikigai Schools is primarily intended for use by parents, guardians, or adult students. However, we understand that information about children (minors under the age of 18) may be provided to us in the context of school inquiries or admissions.

• Not Intended for Young Children Without Consent: Our Site and services are not directed to children under 13 years of age for direct use, and we do not knowingly allow children under 13 to register or provide personal information without parental consent. If you are under 18, you should access our Site or provide personal information only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. For example, a parent or guardian should fill out inquiry or application forms on behalf of a minor.
• Parental Consent for Minors: In cases where we knowingly collect personal information of a child (such as as part of an admissions process, where details of a student are provided), we will ensure that verifiable parental or guardian consent is obtained, as required by law. Under India’s DPDP Act 2023 and other global standards, processing of personal data of children requires guardian consent. We adhere to this requirement.
• Information Collected about Children: The type of information we may collect about a child could include name, age, date of birth, contact details of parent/guardian, educational history, and any information specifically necessary for school admission or enrollment. We will use such information solely for the purpose for which it was collected (e.g., to consider the child’s admission, to communicate with parents/guardians, or to provide educational services if the child is enrolled).
• No Child Marketing: We do not direct marketing communications at children. Any promotional content about our programs will be sent to parents/guardians or adult students. We do not knowingly use any third-party advertising networks to target minors based on data collected from our Site.
• Parental Rights: If you are a parent or guardian and you believe we have collected personal information about your child without your consent, or if you wish to review or delete personal data of your child that we have collected, you can contact us to request removal. Upon receiving a valid request from a parent/guardian, we will take steps to promptly delete the child’s information (unless we are required by law to retain it) and cease any further collection or use of the child’s information.
• Educational Context Exception: In certain cases, Indian law and other regulations provide exceptions for educational institutions processing student data (for example, for providing counseling or educational services). However, even in such contexts, we prioritize privacy and will not use a child’s data for any purpose beyond educational or safety needs without consent.

We encourage parents and guardians to be actively involved in their children’s online activities and to educate minors about not sharing personal information on the internet without permission. Our goal is to assist parents/guardians in ensuring that children have a safe and secure experience with our educational services.

1.8 Third-Party Services and Integrations

Ikigai Schools utilizes certain third-party services and integrations to operate the Site and provide functionality. It’s important for users to understand how these third-party services interact with your data:

• Analytics and Tracking: As noted, we use services like Google Analytics and Meta Pixel. Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to track user interactions on our Site and provides us aggregated reports. Meta Pixel, when present, enables Meta Platforms (Facebook/Instagram) to collect data about visitors on our Site for analytics and advertisement purposes. These third parties may automatically receive certain technical information about your device and browsing. For instance, Google may receive your IP address and Meta may know that a particular Facebook user visited our Site. These services act in part as our data processors (providing analytics to us), but they may also use the collected data for their own purposes (e.g., improving their services, or, in Meta’s case, customizing the ads you see on their platforms). We recommend reviewing Google’s Privacy Policy and Facebook’s/Data Policy to understand their practices. You can opt out of Google Analytics by using the official browser opt-out plugin, and manage ad preferences on Facebook through your user settings on that platform.
• Hosting and Cloud Providers: Our website is hosted on servers provided by third-party hosting companies (for example, Hostinger, AWS, GoDaddy, or similar providers – whichever service we currently use). These companies provide the infrastructure that our Site runs on. While they have access to the server and could technically access stored data, they operate under strict terms and usually do not access or use personal data except as needed for maintenance of the service. We ensure our hosting providers implement appropriate security measures.
• Embedded Content and External Links: Our Site may include embedded content (e.g., a YouTube video, a Google Map, or a social media feed). Embedded content from third-party platforms functions similarly to visiting those platforms directly – such content may collect data about you (via cookies or other tracking) if you interact with it or even just view it. For example, if we embed a YouTube video, YouTube/Google may place cookies or register your interaction. Similarly, any link that takes you to an external site (for example, a partner school, an educational resource, or a social media page) means you will be subject to that external site’s terms and privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies and terms of any third-party websites or services accessed through links on our Site. Ikigai Schools is not responsible for the content or data practices of external sites.
• Payment Gateways and Financial Service Providers: (If applicable) Should our Site direct you to third-party payment gateways for processing any fees or payments, note that those gateways (like banks, UPI services, or credit card processors) will collect financial information directly from you. We do not receive or store full credit card numbers or bank details from these transactions; we only get confirmation of payment and basic details necessary to reconcile records. Those financial transactions are encrypted and handled by the third-party provider in accordance with their security protocols. Always ensure that you see proper security indicators (like "https" and trusted payment portal branding) when entering payment information.
• Third-Party Plugins/Modules: We may use third-party software libraries or plugins on our Site (for example, for form Captcha verification like Google reCAPTCHA, or for chat support, etc.). These plugins might collect certain data (like IP address or mouse movements for a Captcha to detect bots). We only implement reputable plugins that respect privacy and security, and we configure them to minimize data collection.

In all cases, while we integrate these third-party services to enhance functionality, we do not share more data with them than necessary for them to perform their work. We also rely on contractual or public assurances from these providers that they comply with privacy regulations. However, their activities are partly governed by their own terms. If you have questions about specific third-party integrations on our Site, feel free to contact us for more information.