Three public high schools in Fukui Prefecture are believed to have kept human skulls for use as teaching aids, with one having been put on display, officials of the prefectural education board said Wednesday.
The board has been conducting an investigation into the matter after a human skull was found at a public high school in Kagoshima Prefecture in June last year.
The skulls, kept at prefectural-run high schools in the cities of Sakai, Awara and Echizen, will be examined by the police, who will investigate how they ended up there.
One of the schools had been displaying the skull in a glass case near a biology classroom. It was used for teaching until several years ago, an official of the school said.
Following the probe by the education board, the school moved the skull to the teachers' room so that students couldn't see it.
The school also said teachers have been told that "a real skull was purchased as a specimen," although it was not clear when that occurred.
No students had complained about the skull, according to the school.
Yoshiro Matsumori of the education board said it is left up to schools to choose what types of teaching aids they want to use in class.