Terms & Conditions

1. Definitions

• “Company” means Akoto Group Limited, a company incorporated in Kenya.
• “Platform” / “Service” means the Akoto Shule cloud-based school management system, accessible at akotoshule.link and any related mobile applications.
• “School” / “Customer” means any educational institution that has subscribed to and uses the Service.
• “Authorized User” means any individual (principal, teacher, bursar, staff, parent) granted access by the School.
• “School Data” means all data uploaded to or generated within the Platform by the School or its Authorized Users.

2. Service Description

Akoto Shule is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) school management system designed for Kenyan schools operating under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and the legacy KCSE framework. The Platform provides tools for:

• Student enrollment, records, and academic progress tracking
• Teacher and staff management
• Attendance recording and reporting
• Fee management and M-Pesa payment integration
• CBC report cards and term result generation
• Parent portal for access to student information
• Timetable, assessments, and communication tools
• School group owner analytics and oversight

The Company reserves the right to modify, update, or discontinue any feature of the Service with reasonable notice to Customers.

3. Eligibility & Authorized Use

The Service is intended for use by registered educational institutions in Kenya. To subscribe, the School must:

• Be a legally recognized school or educational institution
• Be represented by an authorized administrator (principal or equivalent) with authority to enter into binding agreements on behalf of the School
• Ensure all Authorized Users are at least 18 years of age, except for student portal access which is managed through parent or guardian accounts

The School is solely responsible for ensuring that only authorized personnel are granted access to the Platform and that all access credentials are kept confidential.

4. Account Responsibilities

Each School and its Authorized Users agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete registration information
• Keep login credentials (passwords, OTPs) secure and confidential
• Promptly notify the Company of any unauthorized access or security breach at service@akotogrouplimited.com
• Not share accounts between multiple individuals unless the system explicitly supports multi-user roles
• Ensure Authorized Users comply with these Terms

The Company will not be liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of an account where the School failed to maintain adequate security of its credentials.

5. Subscription & Payment Terms

5.1 Subscription Plans

Access to the Platform is provided on a subscription basis. Plans vary by school size, feature set, and billing cycle (monthly or annual). Current pricing is available on our website or upon request.

5.2 Payment Methods

Payments are accepted via M-Pesa (Safaricom Daraja) and bank transfer to Akoto Group Limited's designated account. All amounts are quoted and payable in Kenya Shillings (KES) unless otherwise agreed in writing.

5.3 Auto-Renewal

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing cycle unless cancelled in writing at least 7 days before the renewal date. Renewal invoices will be sent to the registered contact email.

5.4 Late Payment

Accounts with overdue balances may be placed in a grace period for up to 14 days. After the grace period, access to the Platform may be suspended until payment is received. Data is retained during suspension.

5.5 Refund Policy

Subscription fees are non-refundable once a billing period has commenced, except where required by law or at the Company's sole discretion in cases of proven service failure attributable to the Company. Annual subscriptions cancelled before expiry are not entitled to a pro-rata refund unless otherwise agreed in writing.

5.6 Taxes

All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes including VAT. The School is responsible for all applicable taxes in its jurisdiction.

6. Acceptable Use

The School and its Authorized Users must not:

• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable Kenyan law or regulation
• Upload or transmit malicious code, viruses, or any harmful software
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Platform or its underlying infrastructure
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Platform
• Resell, sublicense, or otherwise commercialize access to the Platform without prior written consent from the Company
• Use automated scraping, bots, or crawlers against the Platform
• Introduce false, misleading, or fraudulent data into the system
• Upload content that violates third-party intellectual property rights

The Company reserves the right to suspend or terminate access immediately for material violations of this section.

7. Data Ownership

The School retains full ownership of all School Data entered into or generated within the Platform, including student records, staff information, financial data, and academic records.

The Company acts as a data processor on behalf of the School (the data controller) with respect to personal data of students, staff, and parents. The Company will process School Data only in accordance with these Terms and its Privacy Policy.

The Company does not claim any intellectual property rights over School Data and will not use it for purposes other than providing and improving the Service.

8. Intellectual Property

The Platform, including its software, design, user interface, trademarks, logos, and all related documentation, is the exclusive intellectual property of Akoto Group Limited and is protected under Kenyan and international intellectual property laws.

The Company grants the School a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Platform solely for the School's internal administrative and educational purposes during the subscription term.

No licence is granted to the School or its users to copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works of any part of the Platform.

9. Service Availability & Uptime

The Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain the Platform's availability at a target of 99% uptime per calendar month, excluding scheduled maintenance windows.

Scheduled maintenance will, where practicable, be performed during off-peak hours and notified to School administrators at least 24 hours in advance.

The Company does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation and shall not be liable for outages caused by internet service providers, third-party infrastructure (including Cloudflare or Safaricom), force majeure events, or factors outside its reasonable control.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by Kenyan law, the Company's aggregate liability to the School for any claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the use of the Service shall not exceed the total subscription fees paid by the School in the 3 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

The Company shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, loss of data, loss of goodwill, or business interruption, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under applicable Kenyan law.

11. Termination & Data Export

11.1 Termination by School

The School may terminate its subscription by providing 30 days' written notice to service@akotogrouplimited.com before the next renewal date.

11.2 Termination by the Company

The Company may suspend or terminate access immediately for material breach of these Terms, including non-payment (after the grace period), prohibited use, or fraudulent activity. The Company may also terminate with 60 days' notice if it decides to discontinue the Service.

11.3 Data Export

Upon termination or expiry of a subscription, the School may request an export of its School Data within 30 days of termination. The Company will provide data in a machine-readable format (CSV or JSON). After 30 days, the Company reserves the right to delete School Data from its active systems, subject to any applicable legal retention obligations.

11.4 Survival

Provisions relating to intellectual property, limitation of liability, governing law, and any accrued payment obligations survive termination.

12. Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep the other party's confidential information strictly confidential and not to disclose it to any third party without prior written consent, except as required by law or regulation. School Data is treated as confidential information of the School.

13. Third-Party Services

The Platform integrates with third-party services including Safaricom (M-Pesa), Africa's Talking (SMS), and Cloudflare (CDN and storage). The Company is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or terms of these third-party services. Use of such integrations is subject to the respective third-party terms of service.

14. Amendments

The Company may amend these Terms at any time by posting the updated version on the Platform or notifying the School's registered email. Changes take effect 14 days after notification. Continued use of the Service after that date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

15. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Kenya. The parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Kenya for any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

Before commencing formal proceedings, the parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through negotiation within 30 days of written notice of the dispute.

16. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact: