How to hide issue_template folder from github repo while the issue_templates are still functional

Question

i have added issue templates in my github repo but i want to hide issue template files from the public while the issue templates still work. In simple words, i want to hide this folder(.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE) from my github repo but still want it to be functional

i tried using the .gitignore file, it ignores the folder from github repo, which does not allows the issue templates to be functional.

Github repo image