The matriculants of 2006 will not have a choice between higher or standard grade examination papers.
Deputy Education Minister Mosibudi Mangena told The Star on Wednesday that these grades would be scrapped in line with the new curriculum statement.
He said differentiation between higher or standard examination papers disadvantaged some pupils and, in some cases, contributed to the closing of career paths.
"It is very difficult in practice to differentiate between standard and higher grade papers. It is at the discretion of examiners how questions for a particular paper must be structured," said Mangena.
This meant that the question of whether a pupil who passed higher grade matric was in fact better than one who passed the same subject in lower grade was academic.
He said the education department had also found cases where schools and teachers chose grades for pupils.
"Ideally, pupils are supposed to choose whether they want to do subjects in lower or higher grades, but we found that in some schools, the teachers decide.
"Some schools don't even offer higher grade at all. This then disadvantages learners who, for example, would want to pursue medicine as a career," said Mangena.
He said those writing mathematics in 2006, for example, would choose, after finishing general education and training (Grade 9), to pursue mathematics or mathematical literacy.
The latter, explained Mangena, was very simplified and was designed to help people cope with day-to-day calculations, such as interest rates and water meter readings.
Asked why the system made no provision for people of different capabilities, Mangena said there were six different bands to rate achievement in Grade 12, so higher or lower grades were not necessary.
He added that negotiations were under way to reach agreement between higher education institutions and the education department on the correct "interpretation of achievement". This was being done to ensure the 2006 matric class did not encounter difficulties when they sought admission at universities in 2007.
Education Minister Kader Asmal said recently that a defining feature of the new curriculum was that it set "measurable achievements" .