Sunburungu (UE/R), May 29, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills has commended the Bolgatanga Polytechnic for making rapid progress and urged the tutors to continue working hard and be selfless in helping the students upgrade their knowledge.

He told the teachers that government was concerned about their welfare and that they would soon see improvement in their conditions of service.

President Mills said this when he visited the Bolgatanga Polytechnic in Sumburungu during his two-day visit to the Upper East Region.

He inspected a one-storey dormitory block that was burnt last February, as well as the school's ongoing building projects, including a library complex and lecture halls.

Professor Paul Tanzubil, the Rector, said the school which started with 79 students in 2003, now had 588 students and appealed to the government to take special interest in Science and Technology which is a specialty of the Polytechnic. He appealed to the government to improve the remuneration of the staff.

He said the vision of the Polytechnic was to become a centre of excellence for teaching, learning and research. He said the school was facing challenges that it could not by itself solve and appealed to the government to help it with a water supply system and a permanent hall of residence.