Except when you've never been given the chance to wear one.

Right now, UNESCO estimates there are 66 million girls worldwide not receiving an education.

Queensland University of Technology students are hoping to do their part to enact change for as many of those girls as possible.

Student group QUT Gems, which stands for "girls in engineering making statements", has signed up to the One Girl charity event "Do it in a Dress".

Participants are encouraged to hold events and carry out activities while wearing a school dress to help raise awareness and money for girls worldwide who are denied an education.

Gems charity director Louise Farrell, who is also a One Girl ambassador, has helped to amass a team of about 80 people to raise money to send girls in Sierra Leone to school.

The west African nation lays claims to some of the worst statistics for women's education - girls are more likely to be sexually assaulted than attend high school in Sierra Leone and almost a third will be married and pregnant before their 15th birthday. One in eight women will die in childbirth.

To help change this, the Gems and their supporters have worn school dresses while hosting bake sales and barbecues, and encouraged others to follow suit throughout October to raise funds and awareness. So far, their efforts have raised just under $15,000.

Ms Farrell said it was about making a positive change in the world.

"Sierra Leone is one of the worst places in the world for a girl to be born into," she said.

"It is not very common for them to be able to go to schools and we think we are so fortunate to grow up in communities and families which place such an importance on education and it breaks our hearts to hear about girls who never get that opportunity.

"Education is the way to break the poverty cycle for these girls and their families.

"And each $300 that we raise means that one girl in Sierra Leone gets a scholarship to go to school for one year.

"One girl also has a sanitary pad program, where they deliver sanitary pads to girls in Sierra Leone and have educational programs on how to use them.  The money also goes to building schools – we have built two schools in Sierra Leone so far – and it focuses on men and women's business ideas to help break that poverty cycle and empower girls to make a change."

There was nothing like thinking about girls and women being denied an education to make you appreciate the opportunity to have one, Ms Farrell said.

"We have this set program where we go to primary school, it is compulsory to go to high school, and then most either, whether it is a tertiary education or further education through their work, or TAFE, go on and learn," she said.

"It is just such a natural thing we are accustomed to.

"And you often hear people, and I am guilty of doing it myself, going 'Oh, I have so much uni work to do', or 'I hate this, I can't believe I have to go to uni or school today' and then you take a step back and think about how lucky we are that we can go to uni and we can go to school and we can get this amazing education.

"It is really eye opening when you see the people all over the world who never get that opportunity and never get the choice to learn."

For more information, or to help, go to http://www.doitinadress.com/team/qut-gems.