The board of education in Tachikawa, Tokyo, said Monday that an elementary school teacher exercised "an inappropriate teaching method" when he fingerprinted 37 students last week in a bid to prevent bullying in his classroom.

On Wednesday, the teacher, who is in his 30s, had his sixth-grade students place their inked fingers on paper after finding out that someone had placed a thumbtack in a female student's shoe.

The incident riled some of the children's parents, who called the school Friday to complain, and the school subsequently informed the board.

The board said the teacher collected the fingerprints because he thought it would help control a spate of bullying at the school. Apparently, he did not take the fingerprints to identify who had placed the thumbtack.

The board credited the teacher with having handled bullying well in past but said he overstepped his bounds by taking fingerprints. The fingerprinted paper has been shredded, the board said.

"We take this incident seriously, and will instruct all schools in the city to respect human rights and make efforts to prevent" similar incidents, the board said.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education will decide whether the teacher will be punished.