Reports from the northern region have it that basic schools in the area are recording low turnout due to the severity of the Harmattan.

Apart from lateness to school, some parents are afraid sending their children to school because of the weather.

One of the affected schools is the Lingbung DA Junior High School in the Tolon District of the Northern Region.

A teacher there called Sulemana Shaibu Dokurugu in an interview said, “Hmm, the situation is very bad: since school resumed last week only a few children come to school and they do so late.”

According to him, most teachers residing in Tamale and teaching in schools in the Tolon District find it difficult going to school because of the dusty and bad nature of feeder roads in the area.

Mr. Dokurugu decried the falling standard of education in the district and cited the Harmattan season as one of the contributory factors.

Schools in the three regions of the north have been gripped by low turnout during the Harmattan season.

The situation is prevalent in particularly in the Upper East and Upper West Regions that are closer to the desert.

Among the health hazards that characterize the Harmattan include cold, cracked lips and toes as well as soggy dust.