Sale of Bulgarian school platform to foreign company triggers concerns over possible personal data leak

The Ministry of Education and Science said in a statement on January 17 that it had not been informed about the sale of the Bulgarian school platform Shkolo.bg to the UK's largest provider of educational software and services. After publications in the media about the change of ownership, the ministry said it referred to the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the Data Protection Commission, asking them to look into the matter.

The services of Shkolo.bg are used by more than 1,700 educational institutions in the country. The news triggered tension on social media and raised concerns about what would happen to the personal data of students. Shkol.bg reassured that there will be no data leaks.

The Education Ministry said it had found out about the sale from media reports. As well as referring the matter to the SANS and the Data Protection Commission, they have also written to the company, asking it to provide all available information. Shkolo.bg told BNT that they were ready for any checks. They have not notified the ministry about the deal because there was no such legal requirement.

"Whatever is required from us will be provided immediately. There is no cause for concern, the Bulgarian and European legislation is being fully complied with.There is no change, no data will be exported to the UK or anywhere, everything is still working as it was until yesterday," said Lyubomir Vanyov, manager and co-founder of Shkolo.bg.

"Every employee of Shkolo.bg who works with this type of data in connection with their operational duties has signed a number of documents that ensure there will be no problems with the data," Vanyov added.

Shkolo.bg was set up in 2016 to meet schools' demand for electronic student records, explains the principal of 119th school in Sofia, Diyan Stamatov. Because the platform is well-made and fast, school principals are willing to pay to use it. More than 70% of schools now use it.

"At the moment, I have no worries about anyone's personal data being leaked. We have been working with Shkolo.bg for six years and the fact that they have been bought by a reputable British company shows that they have a very high capability in digitising education. Parents don't have to worry about their children's personal data because it is used by the schools themselves and the software product carries out the communication between the different components in the platform", the head of the 119th school, Diyan Stamatov, explained.

Parents’ Association is not worried either.

"Knowing their team and the service they have developed and provide, it is of high quality and I think we all, both as parents and as professionals, appreciate it and I doubt very much that data would be leaked," said Parents’ Association Executive Director, Yana Alexieva.

Asked why the Education Ministry uses a private company for the online records, she said that the Education Ministry does not have a contractual relationship with Shkolo.bg, but the schools themselves do. They say that it is appropriate to use the online records in the ministry's newly established National Electronic Information System, but it is cumbersome and slow, teachers complain.

"If we write one thing there today, it will be received by the parents in a day or two," said Diyan Stamatov, principal of the 119th secondary school.

BNT also asked the Commission for Personal Data Protection to comment on the sale of Shkolo.bg platform to a foreign company and the protection of the data of students and parents, but so far there has been no response from the commission.