Child Safety & Safeguarding

CS with ZAK serves students who are mostly aged 13–19. Whether they meet ZAK in a classroom, on a video call, in a WhatsApp group, in the Discussion Corners or through AskZ, we want them to be safe, respected and free from harm, discrimination and exploitation. This policy applies to ZAK, the admissions team, any assistant or guest teacher we bring in, and — by agreement — the partner centres' staff during our classes.

• Enrolment, fees and schedules are handled with the parent or guardian, whose number we keep on file.
• Class communication happens in the class group (WhatsApp) where a parent may be a member on request, or through the parent's number. ZAK and staff do not initiate private one-to-one messaging with a student for anything that is not about the course, and keep such messages brief, factual and in a form the parent may see.
• Staff do not meet students outside class settings, do not give or receive gifts beyond token appreciation, and do not connect with students on personal social-media accounts.
• Online classes take place on platforms with waiting rooms/entry control; only enrolled students are admitted; sessions may be recorded for the group and recordings are not shared beyond it.
• Photographs or videos of students in class or at ZAKATHON are taken only with parental consent (collected at enrolment) and never with names attached to a minor's image in public posts.

Discussion Corners. The Discussion Corners on the website and in ZAPP are the one place where students can talk to each other: question boards and live chat about Computer Science in five open corners, and private class corners that a teacher makes for their own class with a join code. A teacher can make one only after ZAK has approved their request for teacher access himself. Anyone can read the open corners; only a class corner's members (and ZAK) can see inside it. The corners are built for students under 18:

• No private messages. There are no direct messages between users anywhere on the website or in the app. Everything is posted in a corner, where other members and the moderators can see it.
• Nicknames, not names. Posting needs a free account and a nickname; other students see only the nickname, never the email address. Nicknames with long numbers or rude words, or that pretend to be ZAK, AskZ, a teacher, a moderator or Cambridge, are refused. A post can be anonymous to classmates, but ZAK — and, in a class corner, its teacher — can still see who wrote it.
• No contact details or meet-ups. Posts with email addresses, phone numbers, social-media handles, meeting links or “add me on…” are refused. A link to a website outside a short approved list, posted by a student who has not yet built up a record of helpful answers, waits until a moderator approves it.
• Checked before and after posting. Every post passes an automatic filter before it appears and an AI moderation service just after; a post that fails is not shown (or is taken down) and counts as a warning. A second warning within a week pauses posting for 10 minutes; a third mutes the student in that corner for 24 hours and ZAK is emailed straight away; a fourth mutes them there for 7 days. A post stopped because it suggests the writer may harm themselves is emailed to ZAK straight away, whatever the warning count.
• Report and block. Any post can be reported (the reasons include “Unsafe or upsetting” and “Shares contact details or personal information”). Three reports from different people hide a post until ZAK looks. Every report goes to a queue that ZAK reviews, and a report of unsafe or upsetting content or of shared contact details or personal information is also emailed to him straight away — with the post, the corner and how many people reported it, never who reported it. The person reported is never told who reported them. Anyone can block anyone: the blocked person disappears from view and can no longer reply to the blocker's threads.
• Moderators. ZAK can restore, hide or delete any post and pause an account from posting in every corner. A class teacher moderates their own corner only: they can hide posts, mute or remove members, slow the corner down, pause it, let students only reply to the teacher's posts, and turn @AskZ off.
• @AskZ answers in a thread when a student asks it to. It is an AI, its answers are labelled, and they pass the same safety check as AskZ's chat answers.
• Kept for a limited time. Chat messages are deleted 60 days after the last reply unless pinned; what else is kept, and for how long, is in the Privacy Policy §3n. The house rules are in the Community Guidelines §6.
• Email is not an emergency service. ZAK reads these emails as soon as he can, but not around the clock. If you think a child is at risk, contact ZAK directly as well (section 5), and in an emergency call the numbers there.

Elsewhere online.

• AskZ, the chat tutor, is an AI, not a person. It is moderated and refuses sexual, violent, self-harm and hateful content.
• AskZ is instructed never to ask a student for more than a name, level, school/city and a WhatsApp number (for enrolment) and never for a home address, photos or private details; it does not arrange meetings.
• If a message to AskZ suggests a student may be at risk of harm (self-harm, abuse, exploitation), the message may be reviewed by ZAK and, where a student is identifiable, we will contact the parent or guardian and, if necessary, the appropriate authorities. When AskZ's safety check stops a message on this site because it suggests the writer may harm themselves, ZAK is emailed the message and its conversation ID straight away (no name or email is attached).
• CS Games have no chat boxes: players get a generated nickname and can only send preset lines such as “Good luck!”, so nobody can type anything to another player.
• Groups we run are moderated under the Community Guidelines; adults who are not parents, teachers or staff are not admitted to student groups. The Discord servers are open to anyone who joins, so treat what you post there as public.
• We use no advertising and collect no precise location data. See the Privacy Policy §8 for children's data.

No bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual comments or unwanted contact — in class, online or in groups. Students are expected to treat each other and staff with respect; staff are expected to model it. ZAK's teaching style is direct and humorous, never demeaning; if a student or parent feels a line has been crossed, we want to know.

If you are a student, parent, teacher or anyone else with a concern about a child's safety connected with our classes, groups, the site (including the Discussion Corners) or AskZ:

• Contact ZAK directly: WhatsApp +92-3-111-222-ZAK or contact@cswithzak.com (subject “Safeguarding”). If your concern is about ZAK himself, contact the centre where the class is held or the admissions team (+92 335 6598678), or write to contact@cswithzak.com marked for the attention of the centre management.
• In an emergency in Pakistan call 15 (police) or 1122 (rescue). Child-protection helplines: 1121 (Sindh Child Protection Authority / provincial child-protection helplines, 24 hours), 1098 (Madadgaar National Helpline for children and women), 1099 (Ministry of Human Rights / Zainab Alert, for missing or abducted children). Outside Pakistan, contact your local emergency services or child-protection line.

We take every concern seriously, keep a confidential record, act within 24 hours where a child may be at risk, involve parents or guardians unless doing so would put the child at greater risk, and cooperate with schools and authorities. No one who raises a concern in good faith will suffer for it.

This policy is reviewed each academic session and when we add a new service (for example ZAPP accounts). Suggestions from parents and schools are welcome.