Our commitments
- Every tutor vetted and safeguarding-trained
- Lessons delivered in our monitored classroom, never on private channels
- Structured lesson records visible to parents
- Child-friendly learning controls and age-appropriate content
Safeguarding
Safeguarding policy and information
Children's safety and wellbeing come before everything else at Bright Minds. This page summarises how we protect learners online.
Parent visibility
Parents can view lesson schedules, summaries, messages and recordings where enabled, and can pause or end tuition at any time.
Raising a concern
Contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead via the Support page or the safeguarding option on the contact form. Urgent concerns about a child's immediate safety should go to the Zambia Police Service or Lifeline/Childline Zambia on 116.
Code of conduct
Tutors, students and parents agree to our online conduct code covering communication, recordings, data and respectful behaviour.
Safeguarding information
Your safeguarding duty of care as a teacher
What it means to keep children safe in Zambian education and online: the law, the signs of harm, real classroom examples, and the exact steps every Bright Minds tutor must follow.
Safeguarding
Everything we do to protect children from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and to help them grow up safe, healthy and able to learn. It is proactive: safe recruitment, safe teaching spaces, safe behaviour, every single lesson.
Child protection
The part of safeguarding that responds when a specific child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. It is reactive: recognising a concern, recording it and making sure it reaches the people who can act.
Duty of care
Your legal and professional obligation as a teacher to act as a careful, reasonable adult would, so that no child comes to harm through what you do, or fail to do. It applies the moment a lesson starts, and it never switches off.
Why safeguarding matters in tutoring
Tutoring is built on trust. That trust is exactly why teachers are so often the first adults to notice when something is wrong, and why the law expects you to act.
Children trust teachers
Learners often confide in a teacher before anyone else. One calm, correct response can change the course of a child's life.
Tutors see what others miss
One-to-one online lessons give you a window into a child's home life, mood and wellbeing that a classroom teacher may never get.
The law expects it
Zambian law places a duty on every person who works with children to report abuse. Failing to act can itself be an offence.
The Zambian framework
Teachers in Zambia work within these laws and standards. A child is anyone under 18, and the child's best interests always come first.
Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act 2016
Article 47 protects every child's right to be protected from abuse, neglect and exploitation, and requires the child's best interests to be treated as paramount in every decision that affects them.
Children's Code Act No. 12 of 2022
Zambia's main child-welfare law. It defines a child as anyone under 18, places the child's best interests first, prohibits harmful practices such as child marriage, and gives teachers and other persons a duty to report child abuse to a child welfare inspector, the police or the Victim Support Unit.
Education Act No. 23 of 2011
Prohibits corporal punishment and degrading treatment of learners, and requires schools and educators to provide a safe, supportive learning environment.
Teaching Profession Act No. 5 of 2013
Establishes the Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ) and its Code of Ethics. Misconduct towards learners, including abuse, exploitation or inappropriate relationships, can lead to suspension or removal from the register of teachers.
Anti-Gender-Based Violence Act 2011 and the Penal Code
Criminalise defilement, sexual harassment, indecent assault and gender-based violence against children. Defilement of a child under 16 carries severe prison sentences.
Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act 2021
Criminalises child sexual abuse material, online grooming and harassment. This applies directly to online tutoring: messages, images and video calls are all covered.
Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021
Requires a child's personal information, including photos, names and recordings, to be handled lawfully, kept secure and used only with parental consent.
Types of harm, with examples
Harm is not always obvious. These are the signs Zambian teachers most commonly encounter, in class and online.
Physical abuse
Example: Unexplained bruises or burns, flinching when an adult moves suddenly, wearing long sleeves in hot weather to cover injuries, or frequent 'accidents' with unlikely explanations.
Emotional abuse
Example: A learner who is constantly belittled at home, appears very withdrawn or anxious, is frightened of making mistakes, or speaks about themselves as worthless.
Sexual abuse and defilement
Example: Age-inappropriate sexual knowledge or behaviour, sudden fear of a particular adult, unexplained gifts or money, or a child mentioning a 'secret' relationship with an older person.
Neglect
Example: A child repeatedly hungry, tired or unwell during lessons, left without supervision for long periods, consistently unwashed, or missing medical care and school materials.
Child marriage and early pregnancy
Example: A girl who says she will stop school because a marriage is being arranged, whose attendance suddenly drops, or who disappears from lessons after a family ceremony.
Child labour and exploitation
Example: A learner who regularly misses lessons because they are working, selling goods at the market, or caring full-time for relatives, and is too exhausted to learn.
Online harm
Example: A student being messaged by a stranger who asks for photos, cyberbullying in class groups, pressure to keep online contact secret, or sharing personal details with someone they have never met.
Harmful traditional practices
Example: Initiation or cleansing practices that involve harm, forced seclusion, or withdrawal from schooling, which the Children's Code Act prohibits where they harm a child.
Abuse by someone in authority
Example: A learner hinting that a teacher, coach, religious leader or relative demands favours in exchange for grades, gifts or protection.
Professional boundaries
Boundaries protect the learner, and they protect you. These rules apply to every Bright Minds tutor, in every lesson.
Always
- Keep every lesson and message on the Bright Minds platform, where they are recorded and auditable.
- Make sure a parent or guardian knows when lessons take place, and that the learner is in a shared or open space at home.
- Dress and speak professionally on camera, and keep your background neutral.
- Listen calmly if a child discloses something, and tell them honestly that you must pass it on to keep them safe.
- Write down what was said, in the child's own words, with the date and time, as soon as possible.
- Report concerns the same day through the Safeguarding inbox, however small they seem.
- Treat every learner with the same fairness, respect and patience, whatever their background or ability.
Never
- Never share your personal phone number, WhatsApp or social media with a learner.
- Never meet a learner offline or arrange contact outside booked lessons.
- Never promise to keep a secret, and never investigate a concern yourself.
- Never use physical punishment, humiliation, shouting or threats, even if a parent asks you to.
- Never take, keep or share images or recordings of a learner outside the platform's consented recording.
- Never give gifts, money or special favours to one learner.
- Never discuss your personal relationships, or ask a learner about theirs, in a way that crosses professional boundaries.
What would you do? Real scenarios
Tap each scenario to see the right response. If any of these feel familiar from your own teaching, report it.
The five Rs when you have a concern
01
Recognise
Notice signs, changes in behaviour, or something a child says.
02
Respond
Stay calm, listen, reassure, and never promise secrecy.
03
Record
Write facts and the child's own words, with date and time. Do not add opinion.
04
Report
Submit a Safeguarding report the same day. If a child is in immediate danger, call the police first.
05
Refer
The Bright Minds safeguarding team refers to the Victim Support Unit, Department of Social Welfare or ChildLine Zambia (116) where needed.
Common worries, answered honestly
Useful contacts in Zambia
- Emergency police: 999 or 991
- ChildLine Zambia: 116 (free, 24 hours)
- Lifeline Zambia (adults and GBV): 933
- Zambia Police Victim Support Unit at your nearest police station
- District Social Welfare Office, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Please check numbers locally, as they can change.
Safeguarding is part of being a Bright Minds tutor
Every tutor passes a safeguarding assessment before approval, and every lesson stays on our platform. Read the full policy, or start your application.