The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has launched a pamphlet designed to assist schools to meet their obligations under the Equality Act.
The pamphlet, entitled Schools and the Equal Status Act,is jointly produced by the Equality Authority and the Gender Equality Unit of the Department of Education and Science.
The launch came as the Equality Authority announced it has received more complaints about education provision than any other area apart from complaints about licensed premises.
The pamphlet, which is part of a wider approach under the National Development Plan to combat inequality in education, provides definitions and guidelines on the rights conferred and the duties imposed on schools by the Equal Status Act.
The pamphlet is designed to assist schools in including equality policies and codes of practice in their school plan.
The Minister said: "The additional resources provided to schools under the NDP Social Inclusion measures are intended to include measures to meet the needs of minorities and other disadvantaged groups in order to promote and facilitate equality of opportunity.
The Minister said profound changes that have occurred recently in Irish society have created challenges never dreamed of by previous generations.
He said: "In the future schools will be required to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds - cultural, economic and social - with different levels of ability and disability, with different mother tongues, with different experiences and with different levels of expectation."