- Download the Guide
- Introduction
- Ontario’s Access and Privacy Legislation
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Collecting personal information
- Are school boards limited in the amount or kind of personal information they may collect?
- Does a school board need consent to collect personal information about a student?
- When can a school board collect personal information indirectly?
- Does a school board need to give notice that it is collecting personal information?
- What are the rules for collecting, using, disclosing and requiring the production of Ontario Education Numbers?
- Using and disclosing personal information
- Consent to collect, use and disclose personal information
- Safeguarding and retaining information
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Access to information
- How do students and parents access personal information?
- Do individuals have a right to access general records from a school board?
- Do students need to reach a certain age before they can exercise their access rights?
- How does a child’s age affect the parent’s right of access to personal information?
- Do non-custodial parents have a right to access a child’s school records?
- Correction of Personal Information
- Special Topics
What are the rules for collecting, using, disclosing and requiring the production of Ontario Education Numbers?
The Ontario Education Number (OEN) is a unique identification number assigned to each student or potential student of prescribed institutions, including school boards, schools under the jurisdiction of a school board or the Ministry of Education, and all private schools in Ontario. In some cases, this also includes First Nation education authorities.18
Institutions that are prescribed under the Education Act are permitted to collect – directly or indirectly – and use and disclose personal information for the purposes of assigning an OEN to a student.19 A student’s OEN will follow the student through their elementary and secondary (and, in some cases, post-secondary) education. OENs may be collected, used, disclosed or produced for purposes of:
- providing educational services
- education administration, funding, planning or research
- providing financial assistance to students20
Prescribed institutions are required to use an individual’s OEN in:
- records compiled and maintained in accordance with the Education Act
- applications for enrolment in an educational program
- student assessments, tests and evaluations21
No one is permitted to use, disclose or require the production of another person’s OEN, except as provided by the Education Act,22 and to do so is an offence under that act.23
18. Regulation 440/01 under the Education Act
19 Education Act, s. 266.2(2)
20 Education Act, s. 266.3
21 Regulation 440/01 under the Education Act, s. 4
22 Education Act, s. 266.3(1)
23 Education Act, s. 266.4(1-3)
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