What many Vincentians had long hoped for is now a reality. A teacher dismissed under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate has returned to the classroom — marking the first concrete sign that promises by the New Democratic Party (NDP) government are being fulfilled.
On Friday, December 5, 2025, Ann‑Marie Ballantyne — a former French and Spanish teacher at St. Vincent Grammar School (SVGS) — walked back into her old classroom. Ballantyne had been dismissed in November 2021 after refusing to comply with the then-government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Ballantyne told the media she returned to SVGS earlier in the week to express her interest in resuming her role, acting on remarks by Godwin Friday — now Prime Minister — who on December 1st pledged that those dismissed under the mandate would be reinstated.
Within two days of her request, the Ministry of Education called her in. She was asked to report to work, welcomed back by staff, and even presented with a resumption card — though a formal reinstatement letter is still to follow.
The return of Ballantyne comes against a backdrop of years of legal wrangling and public pressure. Hundreds of public-sector workers — mostly teachers — lost their jobs in late 2021 under the nationwide vaccine requirement. Unions including the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union and the Public Service Union challenged the dismissals in court, and the High Court of St. Vincent and the Grenadines ruled in March 2023 that the terminations were unconstitutional and that the workers had never technically ceased being employees of the state.
However, the following year the Court of Appeal of St. Vincent and the Grenadines overturned that decision — a ruling that many saw as a setback for dismissed workers.
In the lead-up to the November 27, 2025 general election, the NDP had made reinstatement a central promise. Now in power with 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats, the party moved quickly. Prime Minister Friday said the process of reinstating public-sector workers would start immediately — though he warned it would be gradual, acknowledging that some positions may have changed since 2021.
For Ballantyne, Friday’s pledge has made a tangible difference. “My interest in my job is unchanged,” she said, adding she felt vindicated. “I am excited. I am happy that the right thing was done because injustice was done to the workers.”
As the first teacher is officially back on the job, many more dismissed public servants — including other teachers, nurses, and civil servants — remain hopeful. The reinstatement of Ballantyne is widely seen as a symbolic turning point, but with some key details yet to be resolved: formal reinstatement letters, clarity on benefits, and the fate of modified or filled positions.
Still, for communities long affected by the vaccine-mandate dismissals, and for the broader public service, the move offers a measure of closure — and a new beginning.
