The students who become mothers and who haven’t worked before they entered the university receive only a monthly childcare allowance of 300 lei given by the state to uninsured persons for a year and a half. Thus, in some of the families where the husband has a job he goes on leave to look after the child so as to receive a higher allowance paid from the social insurance fund. Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga has told Info-Prim Neo that a new approach will be adopted in 2013, which will improve the situation of the uninsured women who become mothers. Cristina is a student who gave birth to a child. If she went on maternity leave, she would receive the guaranteed state allowance of 300 lei a month. Her husband is officially employed and thus socially insured. He decided to take leave in order to look after the child and the family now receives an allowance of 2,000 lei, which is calculated based on the husband’s salary. “We can cope with the needs with this sum. Furthermore, our parents help us,” said Cristina. Ana Arnaut, of the National Council of the Science and Education Trade Union, said the studying mothers benefit from concessions and financial assistance. “We help the mothers to get a place at the kindergarten and offer them financial support. In some cases, the universities give them a lump sum at the birth of the child, depending on their financial possibilities,” she stated. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Valentina Buliga said that the childcare allowance paid to uninsured persons has increased during the last three years and will continue to rise in 2013. “We want to adopt a different approach. The family support strategy will be different from the present one,” she stated. Valentina Fedosenko, the head of the Communication Division of the National Social Insurance House of Moldova, said 38,600 uninsured mothers benefit from childcare allowances during one year and a half. The lump sum paid by the state to uninsured mothers when they give birth to a child this year is 2 300 lei for the first child and 2 600 lei for the next children. The monthly childcare allowance for insured persons represents 30% of the monthly income earned during the last six months before the month when the child is born, but not less than 300 lei per every child.