He started going to school at an early age of six, assuring his parents and school principal that his sisters and brothers taught him how to read and write. He grew up in somewhat conservative surrounding, as his cousins objected to his father for letting his oldest daughter to attend a high school. Ugljanin's oldest sister later became a chemical engineer and first highly educated family member. Although religion was discouraged in the communist Yugoslavia, his family maintained a religious life. Ugljanin recalled that he feasted since his early childhood for every Ramadan.