Poor teaching
There are many schools and the government has built more schools in these areas since the advent of democracy, but quality teaching and a proper structured learning process is lacking.
The most tragic anecdote of how serious the problem is comes from a World Bank study conducted in a province back in 2010.
The study asked 400 12-year-old students to work out the answer for 7 x 17.
To work it out, the pupils first drew 17 sticks and counted them seven times. Some 130 of the 400 got the right answer.
But when the same question was presented in word form in English, things spiralled downwards.
Researchers asked the students: "If there are seven rows of 17 chairs how many chairs are there?" None of the children answered correctly.