Fabrizio Pellegrino, 51, was also fined €50,000 by a Turin court and banned from teaching for life, La Stampa reported.
Pellegrino, who was also president of the Marcovaldo cultural association in Cuneo, was found guilty of sexually abusing 19 minors, child prostitution and possessing child pornography.
The court heard that Pellegrino lured the pupils to his home, where he paid them to perform sexual acts which were either filmed or photographed and then saved on his computer.
The abuse took place over four years, between 2010 and 2014.
He was arrested last August.