electrical technology, wood-working and processing technology, textile technology, and metal technology. Designed to accommodate 1,000 students, at the start in September the school had 21 Ethiopian teachers and 250 students of 8th grade level; by 1968 had 619 students in four grades, with 51 teachers of whom 23 were expatriates.
During the Ethiopian Civil War, May 1988 the 603rd corp of the Third Revolutionary Army (TLA) made its headquarters at Bahir Dar. On 3�4 March 1990, the TLA abandoned Bahir Dar in disarray, blowing up the nearby bridge with several hundred soldiers which stopped the TPLF/EPRDF forces from occupying the city. However, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) claimed they had too few effectives in the area to capture the town at that time, and the Derg army reoccupied Bahir Dar a few days later. The EPRDF gained permanent control of the city around 1810 hours on 23 February 1991, as one of the objectives of Operation Tewodros.
The city, in honor of the Millennium celebrations, hosted a National Investment Bazaar and Trade Fair on 6�9 January 2007. Mulat Gezahegn, head of the Trade, Industry and Investment Promotion Coordination Office, told journalists that more than 150 local and foreign companies participated
