**4. As a closing remark**

**3.6. School support: peer tutoring and teacher criticism**

*Yulibeth, EST)*

40 Indigenous People

peer supports must be done in Spanish.

*of Physical Education, COBACH)*

*themselves. (Francisco, student of the EST)*

One of the most recurring forms of support for students given the difficulties they manifest in understanding instructions or activities to be developed in class is peer support, whose mas‐ tery of Spanish and Tsotsil allows them to better understanding of school work. This aspect is extremely important, considering that in secondary groups only five or six of its members speak Spanish perfectly, who are used as monitors in teamwork to facilitate the development of activi‐ ties; however, the difficulties involved in understanding the topics addressed are recognized.

*If there is something they do not understand or do not get, if I have an idea of what they need then I support them, I guide them or give them an explanation! (…) Sometimes I explain in Spanish, it depends* 

*In the process of learning, the smartest ‐ intelligent ‐ joins with another, students look for him, what I* 

*…I understand very little Tsotsil, but I can get help from the translators, in the classrooms there are children who are very skilled and I ask them what their classmates say and they translate it. (Professor* 

In this process of mediation, the use of the language is submitted not to students but to the mastery or ignorance of the students' mother tongue from teachers, which is the reason why

*I explain in Spanish so that teachers can understand, because if I speak in Tsotsil, they will not understand what I said! ‐to classmates‐, so in Spanish ‐ teachers ‐ will get the information and explain it* 

The use of the dominant language is assumed as the means of formation, which is joined with an expectation from parents and teachers; this is an essential part of the school's mission,

*…In the case of a teacher, who works with the same book he gives us to transcribe‐copy‐to the notebook, it is quickly noted that he has no interest!; also he does not review the homework content, he just signs it!, he does not have a higher interest rather than the work!, what he counts is the number of signatures, if he complies or not!, if a student learned or did not learn it is not reflected! (Francisco, EST 57 student)* In addition, among teachers themselves, the difficulties that some have to interact and main‐

*…there is a lot to do with the person who is in front of them, because I consider myself an open minded person, very open !, I can have their trust, I speak to them with great sincerity, with much respect !, they do it too, I receive the same rapport!, but I have seen that they do not behave this way with the reading teacher, math teacher, history teacher, I feel that there is a lot to do with the leading figure that is in front of them, the degree of trust they can perceive, if they can perceive that they trust you, they open up and express, they say everything!, if they do not trust you, they just say hi and that it is. (Professor* 

Consequences of pedagogical practices in Spanish, like students, teachers recognize that it constitutes a communication barrier that implies the emergence of learning problems, because many young people repeatedly ask the meaning of a given word, sentence, or class instruction.

because of its promotion to the mastery of the use of Spanish among students. This aspect of the course of the school increases a criticism of some teachers.

tain a respectful relationship of trust with the students are set out.

*how they understand you better, either in Tsotsil or in Spanish. (Francisco, EST student)*

*try to do is for him to help me with those who do not understand me. (COBACH teacher)*

All research work is by no means finished task, it always opens new paths and horizons to ask and start new directions. We recognize that this humanity is increasingly complex and diverse, and it is confronted by social, cultural, political, economic, and educational discourses and practices. What we have presented is only an approach to the reality of the indigenous school in a limited territory of the state of Chiapas, Mexico; however, it provides some information about the concrete reality and opens new perspectives in the study of subjects in schools of indigenous communities. Educational institutions that were studied embody a dynamic and construct a particular experience among subjects that make it possible; they are living sce‐ narios, spaces of ruptures and tensions between the "universal" schools with the local culture.

School practices that we have noticed are aimed at the construction of subjects that can be inserted or participate in a liberal society, one that strives for individualism, competition with others and unequal distribution of real resources and opportunities, considered as the only and the best. The homogeneous curricular proposal presented by the Ministry of Education for indigenous education, the material and symbolic deficiencies of communities and schools, and the lack of knowledge of teachers of local language for pedagogical practice make them converge in the same space regarding both the structural power and the micro‐social power.

The activities analyzed transcend classrooms and define ways of being and living the school process. During the course of the school, there is a set of real situations and practices that constitute the daily experience of students as a product of local cultural characteristics and processes. Students of the indigenous community live in situations of tension between cul‐ tural products and practices, norms, demands, scientific and technological contents that the school offers. The school is a silent institution that promotes a civilization thought and sustained outside the local context. School daily life is a symbolic reality, which alternates the local configuration, students become protagonists, main characters, not with academic activities, but with other activities that do not belong to the strict order of the transmission of knowledge such as contests, festivities, and shows. In this role, the pupil also shows to his culture the products that are created in the school environment, where he exhibits his achievements and not failures. In all this, school daily experience is a different experience from what is offered by the culture. It is an experience that provides the opportunity for the emergence of another actor, which is the student's presence in the indigenous context. It only remains to think how much tolerances toward the acts that transgress local norms such as living with people of the opposite sex, engaging in gambling, using other attire, acquiring another language, even foreign language, and respecting national symbols, are products of faith's trust and community expectations.
