his father was hazi dula mia shoudagar, and worked as a jeweller. his mother was sofia khatun. his early childhood years were spent in his village. in 1944, his family moved to the city of chittagong, and he went to lamabazar primary school. by 1949, his mother had a mental illness. muhammad went to chittagong collegiate school and became the 16th best student out of 39,000 in east pakistan. during his school years, he was a boy scout, and travelled to west pakistan and india in 1952, and to canada in 1955 to attend jamborees. when yunus was studying at chittagong college, he won awards for drama acting. in 1957, he started studying at the department of economics of dhaka university. chittagong college awarded him with a ba in 1960, and a ma in 1961.