Italy’s education minister has urged schools not to overburden children with homework during the Christmas holiday so they can spend more time with their families.

Marco Bussetti, from the far-right League, said he would send a circular to schools over the next few days asking teachers to reduce homework and reminding them the festive period is “a time of rest for students and families”.

“Homework weighs on family principals and I’d like to give a signal,” he said. “I’m thinking of these days of festivity and children and their families wanting to spend time together.”

Bussetti added that he simply wanted to encourage school governors and teaching staff to reflect on the workload and allow children to use the holidays to engage in other activities they enjoy, including spending time with friends.

“We have an excellent standard of teaching, but sometimes capacity is measured according to workload, and this is a mistake.”

Matteo Renzi, the former prime minister and a senator with the centre-left Democratic party, criticised Bussetti’s remarks.

“Homework helps children to grow, study and better themselves,” he said. “And maybe it can be done together with parents. But to say that a child must do less homework in order to have more free time seems extravagant to me.”

Giovanni Lo Storto, the director general of Rome’s LUISS University, said the level of homework given to children varied from school to school.

“Bussetti makes an interesting point, but it also shines a light on equilibrium,” Lo Storto told the Guardian. “If children have to do too much work at home, it might mean they are doing less work at school.”

Bussetti’s comments are in line with the Italian government’s focus on preserving traditional family values.

In September, Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister and leader of the Five Star Movement, the League’s coalition partner, said measures would be introduced to limit Sunday trading because liberal opening hours had “destroyed Italian families”.

The government has also included a proposal in its draft budget for 2019 to reward parents who have a third child with free farmland, in an attempt to increase Italy’s low birthrate.

Last month, Bussetti said he backed a suggestion for crucifixes to be hung up in all schools and for nativity scenes to be installed in the run-up to Christmas, arguing that both symbols were part of Italian “identity”.