Eton deputy head fired after ‘exam security breach’
Students’ marks voided as teacher accused of sharing confidential information and practice questions
ETON College’s deputy head master has left the school amid allegations he leaked practice questions for a forthcoming exam to other teaching staff.
Staff and pupils have been informed that Eton has parted company with Mo Tanweer, the college’s head of economics and deputy head master of academics, after an investigation found he committed exam maladministration.
Mr Tanweer, who is understood to have been born in Pakistan, studied at Cambridge and joined Eton in 2015 after a career in investment banking.
After a recent awards ceremony at his alma mater, the school wrote online that Mr Tanweer, who lives in Berkshire with his partner, Emily, and three-year-old son, also worked as a government consultant on a freelance basis, advising on reforms to economics qualifications. The disclosure emerged after a letter was circulated to Eton students informing them of Mr Tanweer’s dismissal, and that a number of students’ marks for an economics paper had been voided due to a “breach of exam security”.
The letter, dated Aug 3, confirmed that Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), an exam board that administers international GCSE, A-level and equivalent qualifications, had found that Mr Tanweer had shared “confidential information” and practice questions, which had then been shared with pupils ahead of their exam.
It said Mr Tanweer, who was privy to the practice papers due to his position as an examiner for the Pre-u Economics course run by the exam board, had broken protocol by sharing the information with other teaching staff.
Subsequently, all Eton students sitting the paper had their exam marks voided and replaced with a grade they achieved in other tests.
Simon Henderson, the head master, added: “Regrettably this decision has had to be taken by the examination board because of the actions of a member of Eton’s staff. There is no suggestion any boy at Eton had done anything wrong, nor is any member of staff at Eton other than Mr Tanweer implicated.
“However, CIE has decided that they cannot accept the marks of any candidate at Eton for this paper because to do so would threaten the integrity of the exam and certification. This is a matter that, as Head Master, I have taken very seriously and Mr Tanweer has now left Eton’s employment.”
Mr Henderson added that Eton would be writing to every UK university to which a college leaver had applied to emphasise that candidates were “not to blame in anyway.”
A spokesman for CIE said: “Protecting the integrity of our exams is our priority and we take very seriously our duties to ensure that all of our examinations are fair, and that all students receive an appropriate and valid grade.”
In a statement, the exam board said: “This decision was made to ensure fairness to all students taking Pre-u economics in the June 2017 exam series.
“All Pre-u economics entries from other schools were marked as normal. No other action was taken against this or any other school.”
Mr Tanweer was unavailable when approached for comment last night.
‘There is no suggestion that any boy had done anything wrong, nor is any other member of staff implicated’