The board president says this is the first public school in the nation to be named after someone of Sikh descent.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Central Unified voted to approve the naming of a new elementary school.
Tuesday night, the board decided the school at Shields and Brawley will be named Jaswant Singh Khalra Elementary School.
It comes after a unanimous vote at Tuesday night's board meeting with one member abstaining.
Board president Naindeep Singh says Khalra is an icon for the Punjabi community in the Central Valley, adding that Khalra's daughter went to Fresno State and his family resides in the area.
"This is something akin to Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Sikh Punjabi community," said Singh.
"A person who was fighting against Government oppression and ultimately paid the ultimate price."
Singh says Khalra was a director of a bank during the militancy period but soon became known globally for his work as a human rights activist.
In the final speech he gave in 1995 shortly before he was killed, he discussed the illegal killings he discovered.
"Over 2,000 bodies the Punjab police had murdered, and then just cremated, just burned the bodies without even providing any information and labeling them as identified," said Singh.
"As he had this particular data, he started sharing this overseas, going to Canada, and the UK sharing in front of the UN. In front of the EU and other parliaments."
District Superintendent Ketti Davis says she knows this school will give families in the community someone to relate to.
"The pride in, that, I think, is going to be really exciting to hear stories from, and connections from, because it really does connect into a growing population in our community," said Davis.
The board president says this is the first public school in the nation to be named after someone of Sikh descent.