'Education in my country never taught me...': IAS officer's viral post reveals 9 things schools miss teaching

 

She cleared IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore, and the civil services examination, three of the most competitive hurdles Indian education has to offer. But it is what those years of achievement did not teach her that IAS officer Divya Mittal is now talking about.

In a post that has struck a chord across social media, Mittal reflected on the gap between academic excellence and life readiness. "IIT Delhi to IIM Bangalore to IAS. I got the best education my country had to offer. It taught me how to crack tough exams and manage big responsibilities. But it never taught me how to quiet my own mind or handle loneliness," she wrote. "We spend many years learning how to achieve, but not a single day learning how to be happy."

She laid out nine things she believes are missing from school education, and the cost of those absences.

Emotional regulation

Mittal starts by detailing how schools never let students revolt or express their feelings freely in the classroom. "We memorised the periodic table, but no one explained the chemistry of a broken heart," Mittal wrote. "School demanded we stay quiet, confusing silence with peace. Now, we don't know how to host our own storms without drowning in them. We feel lost because we were taught to suppress, not to process."

Deep communication

Years of essay writing, she argued, never prepared anyone for the harder conversations of adult life. "We were taught to write perfect essays, but not how to say 'I'm hurting' or 'No.' While there is a strong emphasis on communication, we are not taught the vocabulary of the adult life. There is no course on how to stand our ground in face of bullying by a boss or how to protect our work boundaries by saying 'No'."

Critical thinking

Mittal then emphasises the importance of asking questions more than knowing the answers to everything. "In school, the person with the most answers won. In life, the person with the most questions survives," she wrote. "This is the reason many adults can repeat opinions confidently without ever questioning where those opinions came from. We are told everything as the gospel truth. So we end up just following blindly."

Financial literacy

Schools always emphasised textbook education, solving imaginative math problems, but never on solving the math problems that would help us get our finances right.

Detailing on this Mittal Observed, "We spent years learning maths and solving for x, but never learned how to keep ourselves from falling into a debt trap." 

"Money isn't just about math; it's about the dignity of choice. We do not learn how to use debt effectively without it controlling our freedom. How impulsive spending compounds over time, or how money affects stress, relationships, and mental peace. Financial literacy is missing because education often focuses on earning money someday, not managing it wisely once it arrives."

Self-discipline

School, she notes, is a world of external structure. Adulthood is not. "School is a world of bells and schedules. Someone else always tells you what to do and when. But adulthood is a world of total silence. We feel stuck because we were never taught how to push ourselves without a teacher watching. Discipline is simply the habit of keeping promises to yourself. This is a habit many of us are lacking."

Handling loneliness

Celebrating 'me time ' is almost becoming a new norm, but Mittal says the schools never taught kids how to be on their own.

"In school, you are always shrouded by people. You never realise how loud the silence of adulthood can be until you're in it," she wrote. "We feel lonely because we weren't taught how to be our own best friends. Peace is learning that being alone doesn't mean being lonely. It is a sacred space, not a sign of being unwanted."

Reading people

"School is a time of innocence where friendships are often given to you. But as we go along, not everyone retains that purity. We feel cheated because we weren't taught to see the hidden intentions or the masks people wear. Reading people is the quiet wisdom of seeing the truth behind the words."

Mental health maintenance

"We have gym class for our bodies, but nothing for our souls," Mittal wrote. "We are taught to push through exhaustion to finish a project, which is exactly how we end up in burnout. Honoring your nervous system is the only way to make sure the light inside you doesn't go out. We should know when we are dealing with a stressor and unable to handle it anymore. We should know when to reach out for help if we feel that we are drowning in that distress."

Knowing yourself

Her final point is perhaps the most searching. "We spend years trying to be the 'best' student, only to realise we don't know who we are without a gold medal. We are left inadequate because we studied every subject except our own souls. The ultimate education is discovering what truly matters to you before the world tells you what to want."