Pakistani authorities have renamed more than100 in honor of schoolchildren who were murdered by Taliban gunmen in December last year’s massacre at a Peshawar school.
Over 60 schools in Peshawar are among the institutions now bearing the names of victims of the attack.
Most of the parents of the victims expressed their appreciation for the government’s decision, calling it a “great honor” for them.
“I heard some good news today after losing my son,” said Mohammad Tufail Khattak, father of 15-year-old student Sher Shah.
Taliban militants killed more than 150 pupils and teachers at the Army Public School on 16 December. Maulana Fazlullah, a Pakistani Taliban claimed the attack.
Firearms training have been given to teachers and are now able to carry weapons in class.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government announced they would rename the schools late on Thursday.
Mushtaq Ghani told the CNN it was meant as a memorial to the victims, but also as a message to the militants that they cannot stop education.
“These children, teachers and other staff died because they wanted education, which the terrorists don’t want them to have,” he said.
The central government would confer the highest civil award for bravery on all of the victims and paid 2m rupees ($20,000; £13,000) to each bereaved family.
“I went to this school as a child, Daud’s cousins go to this school, so I feel proud that it now bears Daud’s name,” told Khalid Khan to the BBC that a school in his village in Peshawar’s southern suburbs has been named after his son.