The Book Rescue Notice
At Onawa Secondary School, the library runs a Book Rescue programme. The notice pinned outside the library says: 'Learners in Grades 10–11 may borrow up to three damaged-but-repairable textbooks for the holiday. Return them by 15 July. A learner with any overdue library item on 20 June cannot join. Collection is on 24 June, 14:00–16:00, from the back counter only. Bring your learner card; no card, no book. Repair kits cost N$15 and are optional, but learners who take a kit must show the completed repair at return.' The library prefect's list for 20 June shows: Maria (Grade 10) has one overdue atlas; Tomas (Grade 11) has no overdue items but lost his learner card yesterday; Ndapewa (Grade 10) has no overdue items and her card is valid. Tomas says his sister can collect for him. The librarian asks you to advise the three learners before collection day.
1. Which learner(s) may join the programme on 24 June, and what must each do before collection? Support your answer with details from the notice.
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Reasoning: the notice creates two independent filters. First, a learner with any overdue item on 20 June cannot join. Second, collection requires a learner card: 'no card, no book'. Maria fails the first filter. Tomas passes the overdue filter but fails the card filter on the facts given. Ndapewa passes both. The sister's offer does not create a proxy right, because the notice says the learner must bring the card and gives no exception.
Answer: On the facts given, Ndapewa is the only learner who can definitely collect on 24 June. She must bring her valid learner card to the back counter between 14:00 and 16:00, take no more than three repairable textbooks, and return them by 15 July. If she takes the optional N$15 repair kit, she must show the completed repair at return. Tomas is not excluded by the overdue rule, but he cannot collect unless he gets a valid learner card before the collection window; his sister cannot collect for him on the notice as written. Maria cannot join because she had an overdue atlas on 20 June.
2. The librarian says 'Tomas is not barred forever.' Explain how the notice supports and limits that statement.
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Reasoning: 'not barred forever' is true only in the narrow sense that the overdue disqualifier is tied to 20 June. It is misleading if it suggests Tomas can simply turn up.
Support: Tomas had no overdue items on 20 June, so the only stated eligibility bar does not apply to him. The notice does not say a lost card disqualifies a learner permanently; it only controls collection day.
Limits: the card rule is immediate and absolute at the counter ('no card, no book'), and the notice gives no replacement procedure or proxy arrangement. The collection window is only 24 June, 14:00–16:00, so if Tomas has no card by then he misses this collection. 'Not barred forever' therefore means he can try again in a future programme or after replacing his card, not that he can collect now.