The Karachi Grammar School (KGS) has clarified that it did not purchase data software from an Indian company.
In a statement issued in response to a news item published in this newspaper on December 17, in which an impression was created that the Karachi Grammar School and its principal have agreed to purchase a software which would allow an Indian company to have access to the database of the school’s students and parents, the KGS maintained that it has agreed to purchase a software but not from an Indian company. “The agreement to purchase has been signed with Capita Education Software Services (“CESS”) and not with any Indian company, as alleged. It is not an Indian software – it is a UK software. The software, called SIMS, was first deployed in 1984 and following regular upgrades is currently being used by over 19,000 schools worldwide,” the KGS said. “The UK company CESS and software comply very strictly with GDPR – the EU’s data protection and privacy standards. Like many other multinational companies, CESS too has regional offices. One such office is in India. No information or backup is from India, however. No regional office will be involved in the implementation or maintenance of the software or storage of data,” it added.
“The software will be housed on servers owned by the school which are in Karachi on the school’s premises. All data processing will be done on the School’s own servers and data will not leave Pakistan,” the statement maintained. “There will be no data access to anyone including any regional office. All back-up data will also be held inside Pakistan on the School’s own servers. All licenses for the software will be owned by the school,” it further said. “No payment has been made nor will be made to the Indian regional office or for that matter to any other regional office. All payments have been made to the account of the seller in the UK as this is where the seller is based. No funds are being routed via the UK to India,” it concluded.
