A secondary school teacher in Antigua is facing an attempted murder charge after allegedly striking a student in the head with a rock.

But the Antigua & Barbuda Union of Teachers (A&BUT) is asking police to review the charge, contending that it is too severe given the circumstances of the incident.

Vendiz Charles, a 26-year-old Physics teacher at the Clare Hall Secondary School, was granted EC$10,000 (US$3,703) bail by the High Court yesterday after appearing in the St. John’s Magistrates’ Court for the attempted murder of 14-year-old Akeem Scotland.

Scotland had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Mount St John’s Medical Centre on January 24 with a fractured skull. Reports indicate that the teen was riding his bicycle on the school compound, after hours, when he was struck in the head with a stone. He was discharged from hospital last weekend.