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19 March 2024

8-year-old Dino expert roars...

Published
By Sneha May Francis

When most kids his age indulge in sports or share a craze for gizmos and video games, eight-year-old Pritvik Sinhadc is caught in a world that revolves only around pre-historic creatures.

It is dinosaurs of all shapes, sizes and eras that make his world go round.

And, this obsession awarded him the honour to address the recently held Emirates Environmental Group’s 9th Community Lecture of the year.

His lecture on the impact of radioactive and nuclear waste on marine and land species left the audience of environmentalists, academicians, students and scientists spell-bound.

In his one-hour presentation, Pritvik explained that the radioactive waste could hurt marine and land species in several ways — by killing them, or altering the genetics of these species, or passing radioactive material up the food chain.

Addressing numerous queries from the audience, he stated that “the world needs to quickly resolve the nuclear waste issue because it wouldn’t be morally right to leave it for our future generations”.

“The ones who have started the mess should also finish it. On top of so many environmental problems the last thing the world needs right now is to worry about the safety of nuclear waste disposal.”

He will be writing down his findings for his third book titled ‘The Impact Of Radioactive And Nuclear Waste On Marine And Land Species’.

Earlier, Pritvik authored a 60-page book about dinosaurs, titled ‘When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth’, making him the world’s youngest author to publish a book on palaeontology.

A Year 4 student of Dubai British School, Pritvik’s interest in prehistoric creatures dates back to when he was as little as nine months. His peculiar interest did unnerve his parents, with his mother trying out various tactics to ensure he did “normal things” like other kids his age.

“It started with reptiles, snakes, crocodiles and komodo, and it graduated to the prehistoric world. Then, there was no stopping him.

“Initially we thought it wasn’t unusual, but soon he started getting so engrossed in dinosaurs that he didn’t do anything else,” recalled Indira.

His craze was soon identified by his teachers at Dubai British School as extraordinary and quashed any doubts about whether he is Austic.

Now, Pritvik doubles up as teacher for Year5 and 6 students, after his expert opinion was sought to tackle the school’s new module on dinosaurs by his Year 1 Teacher Georgina Williams.

“I recall a conversation with a teacher who was trying to think of how to bring to life a lesson about dinosaurs for her Year Three class and I told her that I knew just the right person… Pritvik.”

The book, his mom elaborated, was conceived by Pritvik after he felt his students were unable to grasp much during his lectures.

““There are very few children who demonstrate such a keen interest and desire to learn more about historical science. His ability to recall facts and information relating to prehistoric life is remarkable,” added Lucy Barr, Year 3 Teacher, Dubai British School.

Even the head teachers are equally support and impressed by his knowledge. “To have such a keen interest in dinosaurs and to have pursued this passion so enthusiastically from such an early age is admirable. I have every confidence that we are likely to see his name amongst the experts in palaeontology in the future,” added Peter Moore, Head of Primary School, Dubai British School.

Unaware of his exemplary grasp of all things dinosaurs, Pritvik candidly confessed, “As far as I can recollect, I’ve always been in love with these fantastic, absolutely mind-blowing creatures….The fact that they once roamed in our backyards gives me a thrill I simply can’t express.”