1. Introduction & Scope

Sharjah Malayali Samajam ("SMS", "we", "us", or "our"), a registered non-profit cultural organization operating in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, is committed to safeguarding the privacy and personal data of our students, parents, faculty, and administrative staff. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, protect, and handle personal data through our official Student Management Portal (mm.sharjahmalayalisamajam.com) in compliance with UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 regarding Personal Data Protection (PDPL).

2. Information We Collect

To administer our 4-Stage Malayalam Diploma curriculum (Kanikkonna, Sooryakanthi, Ambazhathalolam, and Neelakkurinji), we collect the following categories of data:

• Student & Parent Identity Data: Full names, Emirates ID numbers (used exclusively for age verification and default local authentication), dates of birth, school grade levels, and SMS Membership Numbers.
• Contact Information: Primary physical residential address in the UAE, primary email addresses, and parent/guardian WhatsApp and mobile telephone numbers.
• Academic & Attendance Records: Stage progression evaluations, examination scores, submitted homework, and real-time classroom/event attendance timestamps generated via digital ID QR code scanning.
• Technical & Security Logs: IP addresses, browser types, timestamped access logs, and failed authentication attempts for enterprise security monitoring.

4. How We Use Your Data

Your data is processed strictly for educational and administrative purposes, specifically to:

• Generate unique Student Codes and encrypted QR ID badges for automated attendance tracking.
• Assess academic readiness and facilitate stage promotions across the Malayalam diploma curriculum.
• Communicate official circulars, examination schedules, transport alerts, and urgent notices to parents.
• Verify Sharjah Malayali Samajam membership status to apply eligible fee structures and discounts.
• Maintain system security, prevent unauthorized access, and defend against automated cyber threats.

5. Data Security & Storage

We implement rigorous organizational and technical security measures to protect your personal data. All data is transmitted over secure SSL/TLS encryption. Our databases are defended by Enterprise Web Application Firewalls (WAF), strict PHP Data Objects (PDO) parameterized queries against SQL injection, and bcrypt cryptographic hashing for local passwords. Data is stored securely on servers compliant with UAE data residency regulations.

6. Your Rights & Contact Information

Under the UAE PDPL, parents and adult users have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal data stored within our portal, provided such requests do not conflict with mandatory institutional archiving policies.