Within the call for short-term projects of special interest for sustainable development in AP Vojvodina in 2021, the project "Identification of socio-demographic specificities and new problems of inclusion of the Roma population in the education process during the Covid-19 pandemic" was also recognized. The project leader is Prof. Dr. Anđelija Ivkov Džigurski, and the members of the project team are Prof. Dr. Ljubica Ivanović Bibić, Prof. Dr. Smiljana Đukičin Vučković and Dr. Jelena Milanković Jovanov.

The Covid-19 pandemic has deepened the already manifested exclusion of the Roma population, which is facing new problems in the education system, namely: the impossibility of maintaining social contacts among peers, greater dropout of children from the education system (drop out), lack of professional support in learning (low educational status of parents) and the impossibility of distance learning (technical impossibilities). Thus, the subject of the research is directed towards an interdisciplinary approach to the newly emerged problems of the Roma population during the pandemic and the analysis of what consequences such a deepened inclusion can leave on the future.

The goal of the research is the identification and mapping of existing problems of inclusion in the educational process and socialization of the Roma population, which arose or were deepened due to the pandemic in the territory of AP Vojvodina.

The following will be identified:

• Problems in achieving social contacts for lower-grade students (as only 7% are covered by preschool education, many achieve such social contacts only in the 1st grade);
• Problems in learning due to the transition to distance learning in higher grades of primary school due to the lack of basic conditions for its realization;
• Problems in the organization of adult education.

The project would determine the dropout rates of Roma children from the education system due to the impossibility of realizing and monitoring classes in pandemic conditions. The identification of the main causes of the mentioned problems and the provision of concrete proposals for solutions are also expected. Through cooperation with the National Council of the Roma and the Office for Roma Inclusion, a mechanism will be devised for better education and assistance to children who were deprived of regular education due to the pandemic, as well as assistance to those employed in education in finding solutions in the given situation, both for primary school students and for older ones.