Forcing people to give gifts does not seem to be consistent with the idea of a gift. A gift is spontaneous, thoughtful, and given freely. The system in your school had none of those qualities. It is no wonder bad feelings ensued.
You describe the conflict well. We are in sympathy with you, because you didn't have money to buy a gift, and yet you had to present one. You tried to have a gracious reaction to the singlet. One can imagine Ms. Taiwo was also conflicted because the gifts cost money and it seems no one earned a good salary in that school.
Thank you for sharing this interesting experience with us, @tomiajax
I think that is one of the reasons why some teachers and Ms. Taiwo couldn't get a tangible.
Thanks, for the review theinkwell