Education is considered a priority sector in Bangladesh and a means of socio-economic development by all citizens -- urban and rural, rich and poor. This attitude has created a demand for education which traditional systems have been unable to cope with, mainly in three ways -- they cannot reach the massive and circumstantial unreached and the associated curricula are either obsolete and irrelevant to the world of work or producing narrowly specialised graduates with limited future options. To address these challenges this paper argues that diversification of the secondary and higher secondary curricula through the introduction of vocational elements in open and distance learning (ODL), is necessary. Despite much research and literature on general, vocational and open and distance education individually, very little information is available with respect to integration of vocational and general education in open and distance learning. This paper outlines a study exploring the present scenario and assessing the need for integrating vocational elements at the secondary and higher secondary curricula in open and distance learning in Bangladesh. It is part of a larger study on distance education systems in three different countries. The research involved focus group discussions with the Bangladeshi community including students, teachers and guardians culminating a set of recommendations that may play an important role in reforming the ongoing system.