The master's thesis examines the opinions of primary school teachers on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reading skills of Roma students in the first educational cycle in the Kočevje area. The theoretical part presents the historical, cultural, linguistic and social aspects of the Roma situation, as well as the challenges of their inclusion in education. Special attention is paid to early literacy, the development of reading skills, and the influence of the family environment on academic achievement. The thesis highlights issues such as irregular school attendence, early school dropout, language barriers and low expectations. The final section of the theoretical part also addresses the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning. It discusses the challenges and learning outcomes of the distance learning period, as well as knowledge evaluation and assessment. Alenka Rot Vrhovec's (2021) study on early literacy in distance learning is presented, along with some surveyed teachers' opinions on the topic. The empirical part is based on a survey conducted among primary school teachers who taught Roma students in Kočevje during distance learning. The results show that distance learning during the pandemic further deepened the existing differences between Roma and non-Roma students. The greatest obstacles were the lack of technical equipment, insufficient support at home, poor knowledge of the Slovene language and difficulties in developing reading strategies. Teachers reported that Roma students lagged behind in reading techniques and text comprehension. Despite these challenges, individualized forms of support, the involvement of Roma assistants and the promotion of cooperation with parents and other participants in the lives of Roma in the Kočevje area proved effective. We also formulated recommendations for further work with Roma students after the pandemic; systematic and early language support, additional hours for initial literacy instruction, the use of visually supported adapted materials, the inclusion of storytelling, games and dramatization, fostering reading motivation through an emotionally safe environment, close cooperation with parents in reading activities, increasing the role of Roma assitants in literacy development, introducing group and individual reading at school, connecting school and out-of-school support resources, and monitoring process through realistic and adapted goals.
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