A teacher in the Italian city of Turin is to be investigated after telling a class of students that homosexuality is an “illness” which can be “cured”.

The headmaster at the Itis Pininfarina school, Stefano Fava, opened the investigation after the religion teacher told a class of 16-year-olds that homosexuality is a “psychological problem”, according to local reports.

The teacher continued to claim that it had been scientifically proven that the “illness” of homosexuality can be cured, saying gay people can be “converted” to be straight.

Naming an individual case, she claimed that a man underwent months of therapy following a childhood trauma, after which he was “converted” from being gay.

The headteacher condemned the comments and pupils described the lesson as “the perfect manual of homophobia”.

Fava described the class as a “serious incident”, and said: “Here there could be gay students or teachers. It’s my duty that this place remains a place in which everyone can be accepted and enjoy the same rights.”