He passed the matriculation examination at Rangpur Zilla School in 1956, and earned his Intermediate Certificate at Rajshahi College in 1958. He followed in the footsteps of his eldest sister's son, physicist Abdul Qayyum Sarker, and took admittance into the Department of Physics, University of Dhaka. In 1961 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics and in 1962 he finished his Master of Science. He completed the Diploma of Imperial College London Course in 1963–64. In 1967 he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from Durham University, England. His thesis was on the bootstrap hypothesis in theoretical particle physics, and he worked under Professor E. J. Squires.