Terms and Conditions

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

BestSchool.ae (the "Website") is published and operated by VBTech Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, with its registered office at Room 747, 7/F, Star House, 3 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong ("VBTech", "we", "us", "our").

These Terms govern your use of the Website, its AI assistant, user accounts, and the services we offer to schools. By using the Website you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the Website. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data.

2. Our service

The Website is an independent directory that helps parents compare schools in the United Arab Emirates. It brings together school profiles, fees, official inspection ratings and reports, analyses of those reports, dated updates from schools, parent reviews, articles and guides, and an AI assistant that answers questions from this data.

We are not a school, a school group, an admissions agent or an education regulator, and we are not affiliated with KHDA, ADEK, SPEA or any other authority unless expressly stated.

3. Information on the Website

3.1 Sources and accuracy

School information is compiled in good faith from public sources: regulators' publications and inspection reports, schools' websites and public social media, public directories, and information supplied by schools. Fees, curricula, ratings, contact details and other facts change and may be incomplete, outdated or wrong. Fees shown are indicative and do not include every charge a school may apply.

Always confirm important information, in particular fees, availability of places, admission criteria and inspection outcomes, directly with the school or the competent authority before making a decision.

3.2 Analyses and summaries

Summaries of inspection reports, school updates and some articles are prepared with the help of automated tools, including AI, and reviewed against their sources. They summarise; they do not replace the original report, which is linked where available.

3.3 The AI assistant

The assistant generates answers automatically from our data. Answers can be incomplete or wrong. They are general information, not professional, educational, legal or financial advice, and you should check anything important with the school. Do not share sensitive personal information, such as health information about a child, in the assistant. Usage limits apply and may change.

3.4 Order of schools and independence

The default "recommended" order of schools is computed automatically, mainly from official inspection ratings, profile completeness and visitor interest, as described on our methodology page. No school can pay to change its position, its rating or its reviews. Sponsored content and placements are always labelled "Sponsored". A school's presence on the Website is not an endorsement by us.

4. Accounts

Some features, such as reviews, conversation history or a higher assistant limit, require an account. You must give accurate information, keep access to your email secure, and are responsible for activity on your account. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. You can ask us to delete your account at any time.

5. Reviews and content you submit

5.1 Rules

Reviews must reflect your genuine experience as a parent, guardian or former pupil of the school. You must not:

• post false, misleading, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory or offensive content;
• name or identify pupils, or publish other people's personal information;
• review a school you work for, compete with, or have been paid or rewarded to review;
• post advertising, spam, links or content that infringes someone else's rights.

5.2 Moderation

We read reviews before publication and may refuse, edit for length or format, or remove any content, in particular content that breaks these rules or that we are asked to remove for a legitimate reason. We do not remove a review only because it is negative.

5.3 Licence

You keep ownership of your content. You grant VBTech a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, reproduce, display, translate, adapt and distribute it on the Website and in connection with our services, for as long as it is published and for a reasonable time after, including in anonymised form. You confirm you have the right to grant this licence.

6. Schools

6.1 Claiming and correcting a profile

A school can claim its profile and ask for corrections free of charge. We verify that the person acting for the school is authorised before giving access or making changes. Changes proposed by a school are reviewed before publication, and we may decline a change that a source does not support. Official ratings and inspection information remain as published by the competent authority.

6.2 Paid services

We offer optional paid services to schools and education providers, such as an enhanced verified profile, sponsored placements and sponsored articles. Their content, price and duration are set out in our current offer or in a written order accepted by both parties, which prevails over these Terms where they differ. Unless agreed otherwise in writing:

• prices exclude applicable taxes;
• monthly plans are billed in advance and may be cancelled with 30 days' notice;
• annual plans and minimum commitment periods are payable in full and are not refundable;
• sponsored content is labelled "Sponsored" and must comply with these Terms and the law;
• no paid service changes a school's position in the recommended order, its official rating or its reviews.

6.3 Material supplied by schools

A school that sends us text, photos, videos, logos or documents confirms that it holds the necessary rights and consents, including those of any person shown, and grants VBTech the licence described in section 5.3 to use them on the Website.

7. Acceptable use

You must not:

• copy, scrape, crawl or extract the Website's content or data, in bulk or systematically, by automated means or otherwise, or use it to build a competing database or train AI models, without our written permission;
• misuse the AI assistant, attempt to bypass its limits, or use it to generate content for republication;
• interfere with the Website's security or operation, or access it through unauthorised means;
• impersonate a school, a person or VBTech;
• use the Website for any unlawful purpose.

We may suspend or block access that breaks these rules.

8. Intellectual property

The Website, its design, software, databases, texts, analyses, rankings and graphics are owned by VBTech or its licensors and protected by intellectual property laws. You may view and share pages for personal, non-commercial use and quote short extracts with a link to the source page. School names, logos and trademarks belong to their owners and are used only to identify the schools. Official reports remain the property of the authorities that publish them.

9. Advertising and third-party links

The Website shows advertising from Google and may link to third-party websites, including schools and regulators. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party content, products or services.

10. Liability

The Website and its information are provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, we give no warranty that they are accurate, complete, current, uninterrupted or error-free, and we are not liable for decisions made on the basis of them, including the choice of a school, or for any indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, data or opportunity.

Where our liability cannot be excluded, it is limited, for users of the free service, to HKD 1,000 and, for paid services, to the amounts paid by the school in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as liability for fraud, or the rights a consumer has under mandatory law in the country where they live.

11. Indemnity

You agree to compensate VBTech for claims, losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from content you submit or your breach of these Terms, except to the extent caused by us.

12. Changes and availability

We may change, suspend or stop all or part of the Website at any time. We may update these Terms; the date at the top shows the latest version. Changes apply from publication, and changes to paid services apply to existing customers from their next billing period, with notice by email.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The courts of Hong Kong have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, without depriving a consumer of the protection of the mandatory laws, or the courts, of the country where they live. Before going to court, please contact us so we can try to resolve the matter amicably.

14. General

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms, with the Privacy Policy and any written order for paid services, are the whole agreement between you and VBTech about the Website. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms; we may transfer ours as part of a reorganisation or sale of our business.

15. Contact

VBTech Limited, Room 747, 7/F, Star House, 3 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://bestschool.ae