R.J. BhuvaneshEducationist

AboutIn education since 1991

R.J. Thayumanaswamy. A life built around one room.

Chief Executive Officer, KRM Group of Schools

R.J. Thayumanaswamy is known to most people as Bhuvanesh. He trained as an engineer, chose the classroom instead, and has spent thirty five years in the schools of north Chennai.

What thirty five years comes down to

Better People Better Schools. R. J. Bhuvanesh, Chief Executive Officer, KRM Group of Schools.

Chief Executive Officer, KRM Group of Schools

This is the line the group works by, and the simplest way to say what it does.

Based
Perambur, Chennai
North Chennai, where he went to school
Teaching since
1991
Ten years as a teacher first
Leading since
2001
KRM Group of Schools, Chennai
Continued belowRead the record

The record

The facts first.

His background at a glance. The sections below tell the story behind it.

R.J. Bhuvanesh speaking, Chief Executive Officer of the KRM Group of Schools
Chief Executive OfficerKRM Group of Schools, Chennai
Legal name
R.J. Thayumanaswamy (a) BhuvaneshKnown to most people as Bhuvanesh
Role
Chief Executive OfficerKaligi Ranganathan Montford (KRM) Group of Schools
Trust
Kaligi Ammal Ranganathan JJ Educational TrustSecretary and Trustee of the trust behind the group
The group
Two boards, since 1987Schools, a special school, a fine arts college and a vocational centre
Qualified
B.E., M.S., Dip. PZC (Harvard)Every qualification, with its year, is in the timeline
Leadership style
Facilitative and participativeTo empower people to prepare for a prosperous future
See the timeline

The long read

Three decisions, in order.

Three points in his life where things could have gone another way.

1986 to 1990

The engineer who turned left

He earned an engineering degree, and then chose not to use it.

He grew up in Perambur and went to St. Mary's Boys High School, then to the Dharmamurthy Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty Higher Secondary School. After that he spent four years studying Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. Most of his classmates went on to design offices, power companies and the other jobs an engineering degree led to in Tamil Nadu at the time.

He went to a school in Perambur instead. His father, R. Janardhanan, had been teaching mathematics for most of his life, and he had named his first school after his own parents. He did not go because of the building. He went because of who was in its classrooms, and who was not.

Degree
B.E. Electrical and Electronics
Institution
CIT, Bharathiyar University
Shri R. Janardhanan, known as RJ Master, founder of the KRM Group of Schools
Shri R. JanardhananFounder, and a mathematics teacher for five decades
1991 to 2001

Ten years at a blackboard

He was a teacher before he was a manager, and those years matter to him as much as anything since.

He worked as a Post Graduate Assistant at the Kaligi Ranganathan Montford (KRM) Matriculation Higher Secondary School, teaching mathematics and computer science for ten years before he made decisions for anyone else's classroom.

Most of his students came from low income homes in north Chennai, and most were several years behind. He soon saw that simply covering the syllabus would not be enough. The way the classroom worked had to change, as well as what was written on the board.

Post
Post Graduate Assistant
Subjects
Mathematics and computer science
R.J. Bhuvanesh and a visiting guest holding a memento at a KRM school event
With a visiting guestKRM Group of Schools, Chennai
2001 to today

Taking charge

One school grew into a group, and the group kept its discipline along the way.

In 2001 he took over the institutions his father built. The things that already worked stayed as they were: the discipline, the standards, and the refusal to give up on any child. What changed was how the schools thought about teaching.

Today the group has two matriculation schools, four CBSE schools, a special school, a fine arts college, a teacher training academy and a vocational centre. In 2024, more than three thousand former students came back for the founding school's first alumni meet. Many of them are now doctors, lawyers and engineers, working in India and abroad.

Role
Chief Executive Officer
Also
Secretary and Trustee
R.J. Bhuvanesh with visitors at the gate of KRM Public School
At the gateKRM Public School, Chennai

His work today

What his role covers.

He runs the Kaligi Ranganathan Montford (KRM) group, keeps it up to date and keeps improving its policies so the schools can meet higher standards. His work falls into six areas, from the classroom to the policy table.

Education multiplies when people are empowered.

See the institutions
  • Students on the podium at the CBSE cluster athletics meet

    School Leadership

    He runs six schools and four other institutions, and makes sure each one keeps the values the first school started with.

    Two boards, from play school to college

  • Teachers and guests in the audience at a KRM school function

    Teacher Development

    Change only lasts when teachers are part of it. That is why teacher training gets funded before a new curriculum does.

    Staff trained in house

  • The Think, Quest, Apply book release on the KRM stage

    Institution Building

    Six schools, a special school, a fine arts college, a teacher training academy and a vocational centre, each set up to run well beyond his time.

    One school in 1987, a group today

  • Speakers at the CII School Excellence Conclave

    Policy & Advocacy

    He is Tamil Nadu Co-Chair of ARISE, and serves on the AMPS and Federation committees.

    ARISE, AMPS, the Federation, CII and WISE

  • Students stargazing through a telescope with R.J. Bhuvanesh

    Research & Thought

    He adapts Harvard's Project Zero thinking routines to suit Indian classrooms and the way Indian children learn.

    Diploma, Project Zero Classroom, Harvard

  • A young student receiving a certificate at a KRM prize day

    Social Impact

    A God's Special School for Special Children, and a vocational centre that prepares students for real jobs.

    KRM Special School and KRM Vocational Training Centre

Other roles he holds

Beyond the schools.

Alongside running the schools he holds five other roles, from the trust behind the group to a coaching academy and a news agency.

R.J. Thayumanaswamy, Chief Executive Officer of the KRM Group of Schools
R.J. ThayumanaswamyPerambur, Chennai
  • Secretary and TrusteeKaligi Ammal Ranganathan JJ Educational TrustNo. 17/1, Bharathi Road, 2nd Street, Perambur, Chennai 600 011. Regd. No. 1539, dated 30 December 1986.
  • DirectorJayam Academy, ChennaiCoaching for IIT JEE, NEET, CA, SAT, BITSAT, CLAT, IAS Foundation, KVPY, NTSE and other Olympiad exams.
  • Managing PartnerSri Ranga AgenciesAuthorised news agent for The Hindu group of publications, North Chennai.
  • SecretarySri Jwala Trust, ChennaiA religious and charitable trust.
  • FranchiseeEuroKidsThree play schools, at Perambur, Periyar Nagar and Ayanavaram.

In his own words

Lines he keeps coming back to.

From the Joyous Parenting series and many years of school assemblies.

Read his perspectivesThe full interview
R.J. Bhuvanesh speaking into a microphone

In his words

Children should be taught how to learn, and not what to learn. They should be taught how to think, and not what to think.
Joyous ParentingEpisode six
  • Our students have indomitable energy. If they are groomed systematically, they will rule the world.

    On Swami VivekanandaThe welcome address, KRM

  • Complete education develops a better human being, through inclusiveness and the values of tolerance, humility and integrity.

    On what a school is forBeyond reading and writing

Next in About

Timeline

His life year by year, from an engineering college in Coimbatore to the education bodies he serves on today.