At the national level, equality guarantees in Article 3 of the Basic Law ensure equal participation in education and protection against discrimination during schooling. In principle, students are protected against direct and indirect discrimination by the school or its representatives. In addition, the state should guarantee the freedom of discrimination between the students. Protection against discrimination should be exercised not only in concrete incidents but also through preventive measures.

Although the AGG lists public education in its scope of ​​application (§ 2 (1) No. 7), this has no legal consequences, as no sanctions are provided for in the AGG with respect to discrimination in schools. The AGG only offers protection in cases of discrimination in private educational institutions with which students have concluded civil law contracts.

Since education in Germany, falls within the competence of the Länder, each Land has its own state school law. Some state school laws contain an article on equal treatment. However, rights and prohibitions are relatively undifferentiated/ underdeveloped?. In most of the Länder, unequal treatment based on sex and religion/belief are forbidden. Bremen also adds ethnic origin. Conversely, in Schleswig-Holstein the principle of equal treatment is disregarded. In Rhineland-Palatinate, a broad promotion approach is laid down. In Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt, social interaction with people  of different origins is formulated as an educational goal. According to a study by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency a large group of Länder (Baden-Wuerttemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) do not classify anti-discrimination protection as a principles for the realisation their educational mission. Only Berlin and Rhineland-Palatinate explicitly stipulate intercultural perspectives and Brandenburg has even issued a comprehensive prohibition of discrimination. Despite some exemplary legal precautions, however, a corresponding exercise of rights within the framework of administrative law has so far barely materialised. In addition, administrative law provides possibilities to reverse the burden of proof or to seek assistance from associations, as permitted by the AGG, only to a very limited extent.

Regrettably, no extrajudicial complaint mechanisms or structures are available in schools, no matter which Land. Only in Berlin there are initiatives for complaints bodies in cases of discrimination.