She organized a group of close family members and friends to plan a school that would offer a comprehensive, world-class education program for girls.[2] One of her friends was Maisie Osora, the British wife of a Sierra Leonean clergyman, who was a teacher at the Annie Walsh Memorial School.[2]
On 20 January 1926, the Freetown Secondary School for Girls opened at Garrison and Gloucester Streets with a student body of twenty girls.[2] Osora was principal and Benka-Coker was as vice-principal.[2]
The Freetown School for Girls was the only school that had classes from Kindergarten through Secondary School.[2]
Eventually, Hannah became the school principal.[2] During her tenure she accepted students from all over West Africa regardless of creed or tribe.[2] The school moved to Tower Hill in Freetown and became a boarding school.[2] Students flocked from The Gambia, The Gold Coast and Nigeria.[2]
In 1944, Benka-Coker was awarded an MBE for her services to education.[3]
Marriage and family
She married a lawyer from the Gambia and became Hannah Benka-Coker.[2]
^Johnson, Alex C. (8 November 2005). Mac Dixon-Fyle, Gibril Raschid Cole (ed.). New perspectives on the Sierra Leone Krio. Peter Lang. p. 271. ISBN978-0820479378.