Because I renewed my passport, SAFEA have requested to see both of them for my FEC transfer/renewal. They don't want to keep them though, just look at them.
They don't normally check degree certificates and certainly wouldn't do so at the Work Permit stage (for the reasons noted directly above). This is probably something which the school has pulled out of their ass - but may indicate that either:
a. the school doesn't know what it is doing or is somehow in SAFEA's badbooks for smuggling fakers in.
or
b. they have had problems with fake teachers in the past and want to avoid those in the future..
It's an odd request, so you might want to use the smell test again.
Out of interest, what kind of school?